Province, federal government announce $38-M investment to improve wildfire-fighting efforts

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This article was published 16/05/2024 (506 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba firefighters will receive millions of dollars in support from senior levels of government as they continue to battle a wildfire raging in northwestern Manitoba.

The province and federal officials announced a joint investment of more than $38 million Thursday to buy equipment, add personnel and bolster wildfire preparedness.

Large swaths of land in northwestern Manitoba have been burning for a week, forcing more than 500 people to evacuate from Cranberry Portage and nearly 700 in total from the region.

“It is one of the worst wildfires we have experienced in quite some time,” Manitoba Natural Resources Minister Jamie Moses said, noting the “earlier than anticipated” start to the wildfire season.

“This is what it means to provide more support for wildfires, and that support is coming.”

The province and Ottawa will each contribute half of the funding, which will be distributed over four years.

The money will help prevent and mitigate fires and improve emergency-response capacity in northern Manitoba, Moses said.

Harjit Sajjan, federal minister of emergency preparedness, joined Moses in Winnipeg to announce the investment, saying it “represents significant progress” in the national efforts to combat wildfires.

“While wildfires have always occurred across Canada, what is new is their frequency and intensity,” Sajjan said.

“Our hearts go out to the families (in Cranberry Portage)… I want to acknowledge the anxiety, the fear that they are going through, but also give them the assurance that the Province of Manitoba and the federal government are all working in collaboration and making sure they get the support that they need.”

Last summer, Canada had one of the worst wildfire seasons on record, Sajjan said, attributing it to climate change.

“For anybody who says that climate change is not real, please give your head a shake right now,” he said. “Look around at the devastating effect it has had.”

The funding is part of a larger commitment announced in 2022, in which the federal government pledged to distribute $256 million in wildfire funds throughout the nation before 2027.

Provinces and territories are primarily responsible for fighting wildfires, but “the federal government has recognized that additional firefighting resources will most certainly be required moving forward,” Sajjan said.

“Our first priority is to protect the lives and livelihoods of Canadians,” he said.

Dan Vandal, who is the northern affairs minister and Manitoba’s senior federal cabinet minister, who also spoke at the announcement, estimated fire suppression costs could double in Canada by 2040.

“Research suggests that every $1 invested in wildfire prevention and preparation can save up to $15 in costs,” the Winnipeg MP said.

The latest online reports from the provincial government indicate the fire near Cranberry Portage has consumed 37,000 hectares of land — an area roughly equivalent to 70 per cent of Winnipeg.

It was sparked May 9, when lightning struck a ridge line some 25 kilometres northwest of Cranberry Portage. The community is located roughly 700 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, near Flin Flon.

Premier Wab Kinew, who toured the fire zone by helicopter Tuesday, described the situation as serious, saying his government would spend whatever is necessary to support evacuees and fire crews.

On Wednesday, Manitoba Wildfire Service director Earl Simmons said he was hopeful evacuees from the region will be able to return to their homes by the weekend.

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Although the fire continues to burn roughly 1.5 kilometres from Cranberry Portage, fire crews have managed to largely contain the nearby fire line, mitigating the threat to the community, Simmons said.

That fire could continue to burn for several weeks, he has said.

There is no estimated date for evacuees to return to their homes, the province said.

Smoke is affecting residents in several communities in the area, including Flin Flon.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.