Wildfire evacuees from three First Nations are being housed in hotels in Brandon, Thompson, Winnipeg and the RBC Convention Centre.
Evacuees began arriving at the temporary shelter set up by the Canadian Red Cross Thursday morning.
The Red Cross says there are just not enough hotel rooms to accommodate the now 4,500 plus people out of their homes.
READ MORE: Two Hercules airplanes helping evacuees from Manitoba wildfires
“We’re setting up a shelter for up to 1,000 people here. Right now we have cots for about 110 people, that’s phasing in so over the next, by midway, we’ll have most of the cots set up,” Shawn Feely, Canadian Red Cross VP for Manitoba and Nunavut.
“We’re bringing about 3,700 people down from these three northern communities.”
Red Cross said they will try to keep communities together so friends and family can stay close.
READ MORE: Manitobans sent fleeing from their homes following massive wildfire
“We’re trying to keep the communities together, friends and families together as much as possible so here, we’ll be ready to accommodate up to a thousand people. We don’t know if that’s the number we’ll reach but that’s the number we’re gearing up for,” Feely said.
Evacuees were given hygiene kits and food and the Red Cross said they have activities planned for later in the day.
“The most important thing is that we have them come here, get settled, feel safe, and then a chance to relax.”
The First Nations of Wasagamack, St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill are being affected by the wildfires with 3,700 people being flown out of those communities.
Amongst evacuated residents, the mood Thursday was somber. Many voiced their displeasure about being unable to return home, especially young families just days before the start of a new school year.
But everyone was aware of the threat. Melva Bearday, who lives in Garden Hill, said the scene was almost like another “solar eclipse”.
“The fire was going like a twister and it was going from island to island,” she said. “There was a big cloud of smoke.”
835 people from Poplar River were also evacuated last week.
The federal government provided two Hercules airplanes to help evacuate them and started flying Thursday morning between the Island Lake area and Winnipeg.
The Canadian Red Cross said it partnered with the Department of National Defence and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to carry out the airlift and that the planes can take 100 people at a time on each flight.
The Red Cross estimates the evacuation efforts will continue Friday.
“Because of the sheer number of people coming out, even with planes running constantly it’s still taking time,” Small said.
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