Fire risk remains for Nopiming evacuees who return to find rotten food, ruined appliances By: Chris Kitching Posted: 1:24 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2025 Last Modified: 5:11 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2025 Updates

Wildfire evacuees arrived to the sight of smouldering hot spots, scorched trees, and fridges and freezers full of rotten food when they returned to the southern part of Nopiming Provincial Park Wednesday.

Elated to be back home, Angie Sabourin’s voice wavered while she spoke about her appreciation for crews who’ve battled an out-of-control fire, which grew to more than four times the size of Winnipeg, since May 12.

“We are just so grateful. It’s just very emotional right now,” said Sabourin, a permanent resident of Bird Lake.

She fled with her dog, Finn, when the province issued a mandatory evacuation order and closed all of Nopiming May 13.

The order and closure were lifted for permanent residents, cottagers and commercial operators in southern areas — Provincial Road 315 and Bird, Booster, Flanders and Davidson lakes — after the province deemed it safe to return.

The rest of Nopiming, located along the Manitoba-Ontario boundary, remains closed and evacuated due to the ongoing blaze. At five weeks, it is one of the longest wildfire evacuations this year.

Sabourin said returnees were told to have a bag ready in case they have to leave again. The fire, once the largest in Manitoba, covered more than 218,000 hectares. The province said it was caused by lightning.

Peat moss was smouldering in ditches while Sabourin and fellow evacuees Larry and Leta Lee, who live year-round at Flanders Lake, drove separately along PR 315.

“They were huge holes in the ground that were smoking,” said Larry Lee, noting crews were extinguishing or monitoring hot spots.

Last month, parts of the road were bordered by flames when people fled. Scars in the natural landscape gave Lee the feeling of loss.

“Along the (drive), there were huge swaths of burned areas punctuated by surprisingly green spots,” he said.

Sabourin, president of the Bird Lake Cottage Association, said he had similar emotions.

“There was one spot where last year I saw a tri-coloured wolf, and I thought, ‘Man, all of their area is burned,’” she said.

Bird Lake’s north shore burned, but no cottages were lost, said a grateful Sabourin, while firefighters continued to remove equipment, including sprinklers and hoses, that were used to protect permanent and seasonal homes.

Her dog appeared to be just as excited to be home when they pulled up. He immediately ran down to a beach and went for a swim.

Lee said firefighters from Manitoba, other provinces and the U.S. did a “tremendous job.” Crews removed about six trees near his home as part of efforts to protect it.

“We’re relieved to be home and to have a home to come to, and somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of work we have to do to get it back in the condition it was in when we left it,” Lee said.

One of the first tasks for the Lees and Sabourin was to remove fridges and freezers that were full of rotten food, including meat. The area was without power for a period of time.

“The smell coming from the freezer is unbelievable,” said Sabourin, who stayed with family in Pinawa while displaced. “The fridge and freezer will have to go. You’ll never get that smell out of them.”

Lee said a strong odour was coming from a fridge that didn’t have a proper seal. He planned to disinfect and seal the appliances, once hauled outside, to avoid attracting bears.

New fridges and freezers will be delivered this week to the Lees and Sabourin, who filed insurance claims.

Both households were preparing to cut grass that grew at or above the knees during the five-week evacuation.

The Lees stayed in hotels in Beausejour and Selkirk.

“We were magnificently taken care of,” he said.

In Nopiming, up to 20 properties, including cottages, sheds and outbuildings, were damaged around Beresford Lake, while 19 structures were damaged on seasonal sites at Black Lake, the province has said.

The park has about 40 permanent residences, many more seasonal sites and a handful of lodges.

Quebec sent 60 firefighters two weeks ago to help battle the blaze. They are scheduled to return home Thursday, said Stéphane Caron, a spokesman for Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency, known as SOPFEU.

“Their mission has come to an end, and in a few days, we will send other firefighters,” he said.

The same fire led to evacuations outside Nopiming. About 80 evacuees began returning to Bissett Tuesday. A two-hour evacuation notice remains in effect from Tall Timber Road to Hill Drive in the Municipality of Alexander.

A separate blaze northeast of Lac du Bonnet killed two people — Susan and Richard Nowell — and destroyed more than two dozen homes and cottages when it rapidly spread May 13.

The Manitoba Wildfire Service reported 21 active fires Wednesday, while a provincewide state of emergency remained in place. Six fires were out of control.

A team of 266 firefighters and support staff from the U.S. remained in the province, said Andrea Good, a spokeswoman for the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

A vast majority of this year’s 124 wildfires were caused by human activity.

Since May 1, conservation officers have issued 93 charges and 31 warnings related to wildfires, the province said.

This year’s above-average wildfire situation has factored into the planning of at least one community’s Canada Day celebrations.

The Lions Club of Lac du Bonnet said Wednesday it is postponing the town’s fireworks show, scheduled for June 28, due to fire conditions. Other festivities will continue as planned that weekend, a social media post said.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

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Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris 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.