In a move that could put even more pressure on two temporary shelters, the Red Cross announced on Saturday that 1,500 more wildfire evacuees are headed to Winnipeg and Brandon.
The latest batch of residents fleeing the fire is coming exclusively from Garden Hill as the community deals with heavy smoke.
They will join the almost 3,300 others evacuated from Garden Hill, St. Theresa Point, and Wasagamack First Nation in the last week.
READ MORE: Wildfires forced 3 Manitoba communities to evacuate
The new evacuees come just days after the RBC Convention Centre and the Winnipeg Soccer North indoor complex were turned into temporary shelters for residents. Together, the centres hold roughly 1,900, but — along with those previously evacuated from Poplar River — there are currently more than 5,000 fleeing fires in the province.
Shawn Feely, who is the vice-president for the Canadian Red Cross in Manitoba and Nunavut, said Saturday the organization doesn’t anticipate opening up a third temporary shelter to help the triage centres.
“We’re finding friends and families are taking in some of the evacuees,” he said. “It’s freeing up some of the space in the shelters.”
The latest evacuation takes place as a massive wildfire continues to rage near Wasagamack.
“Chief and council in consultation with the federal government decided it was time to evacuate more people,” Feely said.
According to the province, the blaze hasn’t slowed in the last few days.
READ MORE: Hundreds of volunteers step up to help evacuees from Manitoba wildfires
The latest group of evacuees started to touch down in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon. They were brought in on eight small planes and one Hercules aircraft supplied by the federal government that has been in use since Thursday.
READ MORE: 2 Hercules airplanes helping evacuees from Manitoba wildfires
Feely said the new evacuees are considered ‘priority two’, meaning they’re those in Garden Hill with low-level health concerns, small children or the elderly.
Roughly 900 of the 1,500 are to reach Winnipeg on Saturday. The remaining residents will be evacuated Sunday.
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