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Temporary shelter for forest fire evacuees at RBC Convention Centre no longer required: Red Cross

Cots set up at Winnipeg's RBC Convention Centre. Timm Bruch / Global News

The Red Cross will be closing the temporary shelter at the RBC Convention Centre Thursday as more hotel rooms become available for forest fire evacuees.

With 850 evacuees from Poplar River First Nation heading home this week, more hotel rooms are becoming available for people still displaced from affected communities, according to the Red Cross.

RELATED: Wildfires force 3 Manitoba communities to evacuate

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Approximately 4,000 residents from Wasagamack, St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill First Nations were moved from northern Manitoba. A temporary shelter at the RBC Convention Centre was opened on Aug. 31. A second shelter was opened at the Winnipeg North Soccer centre on Sept. 1.

Each of the shelters had the capacity to hold roughly 1,000 evacuees with the rest staying in hotel rooms in Winnipeg and Brandon.

Red Cross said less than 375 people stayed in both temporary shelters Tuesday night, with less than 125 at the RBC Convention Centre.

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RELATED: Second emergency shelter opening in Winnipeg for wildfire evacuees

Remaining evacuees at the RBC Convention Centre will either be moved to the soccer complex or to hotel rooms.

The wildfire that threatened the communities has now been downgraded from ‘Out of Control’, to ‘Being Held’ by the province.

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