'Another challenging day' fighting Manitoba's wildfires with not enough rain on the way, officials say

Hot weather, dry conditions and very windy days have caused multiple fires to erupt in Manitoba, forcing people out of their homes and burning buildings — and forecast rain is not enough to help much, fire officials say.

There are 24 active fires, six of them requiring significant response, said Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister for the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization.

"This is an extremely dynamic time for us," she said at a briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

"The message that we want to send out to Manitobans today is that if you do not need to be in the parks and if you do not need to be in the areas where first responders need to access, we are asking you to stay away."

Six states of emergency have been declared and five provincial parks, three local authorities, three northern communities and 24 cottage subdivisions have issued mandatory evacuation orders.

The primary concern right now is around Lac du Bonnet and Nopiming Provincial Park, in southeastern Manitoba, said Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister for the Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service.

"There has been some mention of precipitation in the forecast. However, we are not seeing the forecasted amounts anywhere where we'd need them to be to extinguish the fires or make any appreciable difference in what those fires are doing," she said.

"So we are going to be having another challenging day, in terms of being able to fight these fires we have and address any new fires that may start."

Manitobans urged to stay out of provincial parks as fires burn

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Christine Stevens with Manitoba Emergency Management Organization said that as of mid-day Wednesday there were 24 fires burning in the province, with six requiring significant resources. Stephens urged people to stay away from areas fire crews were working, and avoid provincial parks if they don't need to be there.

A couple of days of rain to soak the ground and to heighten humidity levels is needed, along with some lower temperatures, Hayward said. But storms bringing rain could also bring lightning, which is a concern, she added.

Tackling the current situation has been a test, said Hayward.

"We're not seeing a typical fire season anymore. Typically we wouldn't be seeing this level of activity happening until later on in the summer," she said.

Usually there would be a short grass fire season before things greened up, followed by "a little bit of a break before the forest fires started," she said.

"But we are seeing that our seasons are starting a lot earlier," with forest firefighting starting "probably a month earlier than historically we would be used to."

Drone grounds water bomber

Another unexpected issue authorities have encountered is the interference of drones.

According to a provincial spokesperson, a water bomber working in the Wendigo Beach area of the rural municipality of Lac du Bonnet had to be grounded when a drone flew into the airspace.

The situation prompted an angry warning from the RM's emergency co-ordinator.

"The flying of drones in an area where water bombers are working is extremely irresponsible and dangerous for the firefighters who are attempting to put a stop to the spread of the fire," stated a message on the co-ordinator's Facebook page.

"Anyone caught flying a drone in our evacuation area will be referred to the RCMP for charges."

The RM of Lac du Bonnet fire is about 3,000 hectares and the Nopiming one is 100,000 hectares, but the RM is getting the most attention for a couple of reasons, Hayward said.

The priority given to fires is based on the value of infrastructure at risk and on fire behaviour, she said.

"What we saw with the fire at Nopiming yesterday was extremely volatile fire behaviour [so] that it wasn't even safe to be [going in to fight]. So the decision was made to focus on Lac du Bonnet, where it was safer for us to respond and there was obviously a public safety risk that we wanted to address."

Between 800 and 1,000 people have been forced to leave that area, RM of Lac du Bonnet Reeve Loren Schinkel said.

The Nopiming fire has burned about 5,000 hectares in the rural municipality of Alexander (which abuts the park boundary), where there are also evacuations, Mayor Jack Brisco said.

Anyone in the rural municipality who needs a place to stay should contact the evacuation centre in St-Georges, Brisco said. About 300 people have registered as evacuees with the rural municipality, which is southwest of the Nopiming fire and north of the Lac du Bonnet fire.

"Just be safe. If you are in an evacuation area, don't hesitate to get out right now."

Krista Diduck and her family were asked to pack their belongings and leave their home in the RM of Alexander on Tuesday evening. With highways closed, she and her three children had to drive past the wildfire. 

"You could see orange on the tops of the trees and just billowing smoke," she said.

"It's really scary.… You see this stuff on the news and [think] it doesn't really apply to you, because it's not you. But when it happens, it really shows you if you're prepared or not." 

Diduck's father, who left home with her, has been living in the area for about 50 years, and this is the first time he has been ordered to evacuate due to a wildfire, she said.

"It's hard not knowing what's going to happen next," said Diduck.

Fire near U.S. border

Near the U.S.-Manitoba border, pockets in the RM of Piney have also been evacuated.

A wildfire in the rural municipality, roughly 115 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, has grown "substantially," burning up to 7,000 hectares, a news release said Wednesday.

The fire stretches roughly 7.5 kilometres along Highway 203 near the town of Badger. The news release said the wildfire had reached railway tracks at Carrick but had not jumped them.

So far, at least two buildings have been lost to the fire, the release said. The fire has forced residents living on the south side of Whitemouth Lake Road, near the towns of Carrick, St. Labre and Florez, from Road 65 E. to 68 E., out of their homes.

A reception centre has been set up at the community centre in the community of Woodridge.

The Manitoba Wildfire Service is deploying heavy machinery to create fire guards to the west and southeast sides of the fire.

Meanwhile, a fire near The Pas and Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northwestern Manitoba is still considered out of control at more than 42,000 hectares, but "really good progress in gaining control" is being made and there are no significant concerns, Hayward said.

And the fire near the Manitoba border at Ingolf, Ont., is 20,000 hectares. The province is keeping an eye on that should it move into Manitoba.

Information on fires is listed on the province's online Fireview map.

For those near the fires but not in evacuation zones, "we want you to stay alert, we want you to monitor for communication from the local authority, and we want you to follow their direction,"  the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization's Stevens said, because things can quickly change.

She could not provide any information on how many buildings have been lost during this wave of fires, because "at this time our focus really is on the response phase."

Manitoba Hydro announced Wednesday that it is shutting down its Slave Falls and Pointe du Bois generating stations and evacuating them due to the fire situation.

Both stations are located on the Winnipeg River, and the Lac du Bonnet fire is threatening to cut off road access to the facilities, Hydro said in a news release.