With an evacuation order partially lifted as of Sunday, a number of evacuees — around 350 of them — have been allowed back home in the RM of Alexander.
But while things seem to be easing up, the municipality’s mayor says it’s still an uncertain time, and he’s urging area residents to do their part in preventing any further spread of flames. There remains a fire ban in place for the entire RM.
“There’s no fireworks, there’s no travelling in the back country, there’s signs out on the trails, even, that say please do not enter — it’s a fire ban, don’t do it,” Brisco told Global Winnipeg.
“It’s a very dangerous time, and we don’t need to be going back to fight any more fires. The rest of the province is doing that now, and we need to help them and keep our forest fires away.”
In order for residents to return to their homes, Brisco said they must have registered with the municipality’s Connect Emergency alert system, which he said notifies residents of the latest emergency news without a lot of bells and whistles.
“Connect is an important tool for us to get the word out immediately for emergencies. We use very few words on it — it is to say there is imminent danger, and you must evacuate.”
Although he said no structures in the RM, to his knowledge, have been lost due to fire, Brisco encourages all of those who have returned or who plan on returning in future to keep a bag packed should another emergency arise.
As of early Wednesday, the province said Mathias Colomb Cree Nation is now completely evacuated, and military efforts continue to help with the evacuation of of Pimicikamak Cree Nation.
Wildfires remain out of control near Pimicikamak, as well as those near Tataskwayak Cree Nation, Flin Flon, Bakers Narrows, Sherridon, and Mathias Colomb.
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The Nopiming and Whiteshell areas are also faced with ongoing out-of-control fires, although some parts of the Whiteshell have reopened to homeowners and cottagers.
Meanwhile, voluntary evacuations — due to poor air quality — are underway at Wanless and Opaskwayak Cree Nation.
The province said there are 27 active fires across Manitoba, putting the year’s total so far — 111 — well above the average of 88 at this time of year.
Firefighters from Brandon are making the 15-hour-drive up to the Lynn Lake fire zone in an effort to help fire crews on the front lines with some much-needed support and relief.
Chief Terry Partlow told Global Winnipeg the teams from Brandon are focused on protecting key infrastructure, like Lynn Lake’s hospital and water treatment plant, to ensure they stay standing.
“We’ve been sending up teams of five staff and rotating those out,” he said.
“They’ll go up for six days at a time and come back out, and we’ll have another team… we have had a lot of staff step up and say they’re willing to assist and help out.”
Manitobans, Partlow said, are all in this together, no matter where they live in the province.
“When the premier identified this is a state of emergency now for our province, we felt the need to act and provide as much assistance as we could.”
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