Nopiming cottages evacuated
Eastern part of province, Ontario threatened by two forest fires
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/05/2016 (3450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Provincial officials have now ordered the evacuation of 50 cottages on the east shore of Caddy Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park because of forest fires in the area.
Staff with Manitoba Conservation were going door-to-door this morning to ensure residents on the east shore are out of their cabins, including Green Bay Resort which has about a 10 cabins and dozens of trailers.
Highway 312, which runs from Highway 44 to Ingolf, Ont., is closed to traffic.

Water bombers are being used in the area to try and snuff out the fire near Caddy.
Hiking trails are closed in the Whiteshell at Hunt Lake, Mantario and McGillivray Falls.
Winds Sunday continued to drive two raging wildfires in the province.
The fire near Beresford Lake has grown in size to nearly 50,000 acres from 32,000 acres on Saturday and has reached the lake, the update issued Sunday afternoon said. The mandatory evacuation of the Beresford cottage subdivision of Nopiming Provincial Park continues. Many waterbombers have been deployed and sprinkler protection continues on cabins in the area.
Donna Hastings at the Windsock Lodge on Long Lake said Sunday that she could see waterbombers coming and going from the lake. She said it was really smoky Sunday morning but things appeared to be clearing in her area in the afternoon.
In the Whiteshell, the wildfire that forced Saturday night’s evacuation of cottages in the extreme northeast end of West Hawk Lake grew Sunday to 2,471 acres in size from 1,700 acres on Friday. Winds pushed the Whiteshell-area fire east and cottagers at McDougall’s Landing on PR 312 were also ordered to leave. The south Whiteshell emergency plan was being activated and attempts were underway Saturday night to install sprinkler kits on structures. PR 312 remains closed, Sunday’s bulletin said.
The fire was first spotted Thursday about seven kilometres northeast of Caddy Lake. Travellers have been asked to stay away from the fire zone but no further evacuation orders were issued Sunday. A group of cottagers on the northeast side of Caddy Lake watched a steady stream of waterbombers from Manitoba and Ontario refilling in front of them Sunday and decided to leave as a precaution.
“People are working really hard to save the community,” said Jan Watters. “I think they’re doing a good job.”
The cottager from the area that’s accessible by boat only said she and others were packing up and heading home to give the park staff and firefighters one less group of people to worry about if the winds change and the situation worsens.
“We think it’s the sensible thing to do – it’s one less thing off their plate.” She’d been there for a week and said the temperature had fallen to around 14 C Sunday and winds had died down to southeast 20 km-h. They’re hoping the fire steers clear of their cottage but are taking a few mementoes with them when they leave just in case.

“It’s beyond my control,” she said of the wildfire. “It’s up to the wind conditions, the temperature and the humidity.”
Whiteshell Provincial Park roads remain open but the Hunt Lake, Mantario and McGillivray Falls hiking trails are closed until wildfire conditions improve, Sunday’s bulletin said.
Grounds crews, water bombers and helicopters from Manitoba Sustainable Development and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources continue to battle the wildfires.
Burning permits for the eastern, central and western areas of the province remain cancelled and motorized backcountry travel is banned between noon and 7 p.m. daily in southeast Manitoba. The boundary of the restricted area is from PR 302 east to the Ontario border and from the U.S. border north to Lake Winnipeg and extending north to the Wanipigow River.
In Birds Hill Provincial Park, campfires will only be allowed in the approved fire pits between the hours of 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Travel restrictions are also in place in western Manitoba for Spruce Woods Provincial Park and Spruce Woods Provincial Forest areas, Camp Hughes and the wildlife refuge at the community of Spruce Woods near CFB Shilo, including no motorized back country or remote cottage access unless approved by a travel permit, camping only in developed campgrounds, and launching and landing of boats restricted to developed shoreline.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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History
Updated on Monday, May 9, 2016 10:02 AM CDT: Caddy Lake cottages evacuated.