Winnipeg fire crews continued fighting a blaze Wednesday evening in the brush along a road just south of the Perimeter Highway, several hours after it started.
Officials report “heavy fire condition” in the blaze near Fraser Road, an unpaved strip which runs off of St. Mary’s Road south of the Perimeter and just north of the Red River Floodway. There are similar reports of homes threatened on Forbes Rd just north of there. Some homeowners were using their own garden hoses to keep flames away from their homes, others gathered personal belongings and fled.
Map of houses threatened by the fire:
Winnipeg fire crews called in provincial water bomber planes to attack the flames. Resources were also called in from nearby communities including a tanker truck from the RM of MacDonald.
It broke out late Wednesday afternoon.
Firefighters were rushing to stop the flames from encroaching on homes in the area, and reported eight homes under threat in the acreages on the south edge of the Manitoba capital.
Smoke from the blaze was visible from downtown Winnipeg, about 18 kilometres away.
There was no report of injuries. Fire crews were calling for tanker trucks to provide a water supply for firefighters deep in the brush.
A Global News crew was forced to quickly relocate their satellite as flames encroached on the area from which they were broadcasting.
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