'The community is in a panic': Pukatawagan calls for more help as smoke keeps airport closed
'We can't be patient. We need action,' with more than 2,000 people still to evacuate, councillor says
The chief and council of Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, also known as Pukatawagan, say residents are growing more anxious as the community's only airstrip remains closed because of wildfire smoke.
The northern Manitoba community's airport was still not useable as of Friday afternoon, Pukatawagan councillors said at a news conference with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.
Chief Gordie Bear told CBC News the airport closed around 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday, as winds pushed smoke from the nearby wildfire toward it and the community, preventing planes from landing.
Two days after Manitoba declared a provincewide state of emergency and Pukatawagan was ordered evacuated, more than 2,000 people still need to be transported out of the community, Coun. Kelly Linklater said at the news conference.
"We need more resources. We need to move them immediately," Linklater said."The community is in a panic."
Linklater said first responders have resorted to using helicopters to fly people out, but at the rate that's going, it would take days to move everyone.
Coun. Connie Constant said between six and 13 people can fit on the helicopters, depending on the aircraft's size.
The fire, which was first reported Tuesday, according to the province's wildfire map, was 9,785 hectares in size and about a kilometre away from the community as of Thursday.
Trains to and from Pukatawagan were already not running because of the fire threat. Constant said the call for help from other levels of government went out "days ago, while we had an airstrip."
WATCH | Coun. Connie Constant's plea:
"Canada, don't wait until we start losing lives," she said. "We matter. Our people matter. So we're trying. If you look at the map, we're in a peninsula. We got nowhere to go."
Pukatawagan is about 700 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
Manitoba Hydro said Thursday evening the community was without power because of fire-related damage, adding that there were several burned poles in Pukatawagan, but the full extent of the damage is unknown.
Linklater said the community has been without power for three days, and the restoration could take at least a month.
'It was very scary'
People in the First Nation of about 3,000 residents said the situation in the community was hectic and scary as the smoke began moving toward them on Thursday.
Serena Moore, who lives about a 15-minute drive away from the airport, said 28 people were staying at her home that night. Moore said she went outside her home that evening after she heard what sounded like an explosion.
"There was a lot of things falling from the sky," she said. "I didn't know what it was until I turned my light on on my camera and I'd seen the ashes, and it was very scary."
Rose Linklater said the neighbourhoods closer to the airport were evacuated overnight Thursday into early Friday morning. She and her family — including her five grandchildren, the youngest eight months old — were told at around 3 a.m. they had to go.
"I don't think most of anybody slept in the community," she said. "Everybody was in panic mode. Like, people were getting their boats ready, canoes, whatever, and there was really nothing that we can do to get out."
Moore was also evacuated at around 4 a.m.
"We're waiting to be told when we can leave," she said. "But there are so many people at the youth centre trying to get out and we just see two or three helicopters coming in at a time."
Premier calls for calm
A Friday afternoon provincial fire bulletin said the federal government and the Canadian Armed Forces are working to support Pukatawagan, "but conditions are very smoky."
Before the Pukatawagan news conference, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said the Canadian Armed Forces was using helicopters to do reconnaissance in the area as of Friday morning.
Aircraft have been taking residents to The Pas for medical attention if needed, Kinew said at a separate news conference. As a precaution, the town's hospital is under a code orange, meaning preparing for a mass casualty or disaster event, he said.
WATCH | More evacuations expected, premier says:
"I think the most important thing for Manitobans to understand is that we need to be calm," the premier said when asked to address criticisms by First Nations leadership that the province's wildfire response has been poorly communicated.
"With transportation, the Canadian Armed Forces is in the business of meticulous planning before they deploy aircraft or before they deploy their troops," Kinew said. "I understand how Manitobans might look at a given situation and have questions. But I'm here to reassure you and tell you that you have the best people leading the response."
Constant said the community needs more.
"I don't even like the words 'to be patient,'" she said. "We can't be patient. We need action. We need action now."
Multiple agencies are working to respond to the fire, the latest provincial fire bulletin said.
On Friday evening, the Prime Minister's Office issued a news release saying Prime Minister Mark Carney had convened an incident response group to address wildfires in Western Canada and other parts of the country.
The group comprising ministers and senior officials had been briefed on the mobilization of Canadian Forces personnel to support air evacuations in Manitoba, "notably in the community of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation."
"Various arms of the federal government are working with premiers and the Canadian Armed Forces. All orders of government are engaged, including with Indigenous leadership," it said.
The PMO said the federal government is also partnering with the Canadian Red Cross to match donations.
Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@findhelp.ca.
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With files from Rosanna Hempel