Wildfire crews from British Columbia are expected to join first responders in Manitoba on Monday to help them battle the largest out-of-control blaze in the province at the moment.
“We are at the place right now and, and in this season with current conditions and activity on the landscape that we can provide these couple of unit crews,” B.C. Wildfire Service spokesperson Erika Berg told CBC News on Sunday.
The fire — one of two blazes north of The Pas, a town more than 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg — was first detected on May 3 and grew from 100 hectares to 6,600 within four days, according to Manitoba’s fire map.
The winds have now pushed it well beyond that, growing out of control to just over 20,000 hectares by Friday and forcing dozens out of their homes.
Premier Wab Kinew first announced the deployment of B.C. crews in Manitoba on Friday at an unrelated news conference where he thanked the province for its support.
Berg said the wildfire service has deployed two unit crews with 42 members from Vancouver Island and the Southern Interior region.
They are staying in the province for 14 days at most and they might be moved to another site later at the discretion of the province — unless the wildfire situation in B.C. worsens, in which case they might be recalled.
Resources to battle wildfires are “fairly frequently” shared across Canadian jurisdictions and with international partners, Berg said.
The mutual assistance is regulated under agreements facilitated by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre with the intention of allocating available resources where they might be most needed, she said, especially when one region is doing better than another.
“We are all in this fight,” she said. “[We] need to protect communities and infrastructure across our respective provinces, but then across the country as a whole.”
Some evacuees can return home
Some northern Manitoba residents, forced out by the wildfire near The Pas, can now return home but with the blaze still out of control, local authorities are warning they might be ordered to leave again.
Windy and dry conditions, along with warmer temperatures, heightened the risk of the wildfire encroaching the rural municipality. At least 290 residents were evacuated from the rural municipality, while at least 90 more had to leave from the neighbouring Clearwater Lake Provincial Park area.
“It is frustrating because the fire is still not under control and we need to keep people safe,” Lori Forbes, emergency co-ordinator with the RM, told CBC News.
Administrators from the rural municipality have been holding meetings with the province each day to map the response and determine whether the evacuation order remains, Forbes said.
After Sunday’s meeting the RM announced via social media residents who live within the community at Wanless can go back to their homes after 3 p.m.
Residents need to have ID and proof of residency they must show at the roadblock before accessing the community.
The evacuation order remains in place for those who live beyond Profit Road to the Saskatchewan border, the municipality said. Evacuees from the East and North Shore are asked to call their association for further information.
With the wildfire still listed as volatile and burning out of control, the RM is not discarding the possibility returning residents might be forced out of their homes again.
Meanwhile, the evacuation order was lifted earlier this weekend for residents in Clearwater Lake who Forbes said had returned home by Saturday.
