Fire in cottage community of Traverse Bay destroys buildings, forces evacuations

As many as 40 residences have been evacuated and several buildings were destroyed in a cottage community on the east side of Lake Winnipeg after a wildfire in the area.

"I heard that my uncle's [home] burned down, and quite a few places actually, it's pretty upsetting," said Mikaela LaPratt. "You can't get that stuff back, but at least nobody was harmed in the process of all this, so I mean, I'm thankful for that."

LaPratt's family home also suffered fire damage, but crews were able to contain the fire before it was damaged further, she said.

Thirty to 40 residences in Traverse Bay, about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, were evacuated because of the fire, said Jack Brisco, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Alexander.

The fire started at the intersection of Traverse Bay Road North and Traverse Bay Road East in the community, Brisco said.

Brisco said he learned about the fire shortly before 2 p.m., when it was out of control.

"It was very hot today — 35 degrees [C] — and very windy, and there's pollen on the ground, this white, fluffy stuff. It was like gasoline, and that's what spread the fire," he said. "But everything is under control now."

Brisco said he believes five homes or cottages were lost in the fire before it was brought under control by provincial water bombers and multiple local fire crews.

"They're all friends and neighbours out here and I appreciate those guys 100 percent there," Brisco said. "They were great. They calmed you down when you saw them."

The area is under a fire ban.

'A really hot blast'

Zachary Adams was sitting on the patio of his grandparent's home north of where the fire originally started.

"We were sitting outside and we started to feel a really hot blast of heat and a little bit of smoke, so then we started walking down the road and as soon as we got there along the highway we noticed a small forest fire had developed," said Adams.

Adams said at the time the fire was only about a foot and a half high, but was moving quickly toward the highway.

After calling in the fire and learning of the evacuation order, Adams and his family had just a few minutes to get out the door.

"It was a little stressful trying to get the cats and trying to get everything within a five minute radius as the forest fire started maybe 200 metres from where we live," he said.  "I was also concerned for my neighbours' safety and some of the elderly people around here," he said.

'Community came together'

As the fires raged on, LaPratt rolled up her sleeves and began to get to work to help those evacuated find shelter and anything else they needed.

"This community came together really well for this situation, and they handled it," she said.

Colton Rupp echoed LaPratt's sentiments, as a handful of his family members stepped up to help battle the surging flames.

"I do have a lot of family that are on the department and I can only imagine how scary it is and everything, because I have the fear that I'm going to lose one of those family members every time they go in," he said.

Rupp was able to get up close and personal with the fire, as he was bringing food and other resources to the fire crews on the ground.

"We were going in and out and it was just almost nothing but smoke and just foam all over this one road here," said Rupp. "Half the houses were on fire [in an area the fire broke out] … and yeah, it was some crazy stuff that was just going on."

This is the first major fire in the area, and for people like Rupp it's put him on alert heading into the summer.

"It can be really scary, especially since it's hitting really close at home. This is probably one of the closer ones that we've had in this area."

Rupp said at least a couple of times it seemed like the fire was out, but the the winds would shift and it would grow bigger.

"In all honesty, it's an insanely scary feeling where like you just don't know what's going to happen, you don't know if it's going to break out any more, you don't know if they have it under control," he said. 

50-hectare blaze

The province said six structures, a combination of cabins and outbuildings, were destroyed.

Crews continued to monitor the blaze into the evening, which spanned about 50 hectares, a provincial spokesperson wrote in an email.

The RM set up an emergency centre to help evacuees at the Recreation and Community Centre in Grand Marais, about 20 kilometres away from Traverse Bay.

Fewer than 15 residents had registered at the emergency centre as of early Friday evening the province said, but people are expected to be allowed back in the area by the end of the day.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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