Easterville, Chemawawin First Nation evacuated over wildfire concerns

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/06/2016 (3629 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Wildfire Program of Manitoba Sustainable Development has issued evacuation orders for Easterville and Chemawawin First Nation after a fire has moved within half a kilometre of the two communities.

Fire crews are working on three fires in the area, with ground attack as well as two water bombers, the province stated in a news release issued late Thursday afternoon.

The communities are about 450 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Approximately 70 people from the community of Easterville will be heading to The Pas while up to 2,000 people from Chemawawin First Nation will be going to Winnipeg. Support and co-ordination of the Chemawawin First Nation evacuation will be handled by the Canadian Red Cross, which has an agreement with the federal government to support the evacuation of any Manitoba First Nation.

On Thursday night, the Canadian Red Cross said in a statement that a team of Red Cross volunteers was in the community to assist and the entire Chemawawin First Nation was being evacuated to Winnipeg by car and bus.

“Those who are able to, are driving out of the community, the rest will be transported to Winnipeg via bus,” the Red Cross stated in a media release. “The First Nation members will be staying in hotels in Winnipeg. The Canadian Red Cross is providing support for transportation, hotels, food and other necessities, on behalf of the federal government. It is not known at this time how long the residents will be out of the community.”

In Manitoba, a total of 100 wildfires have been recorded to date. The average for this date is 233.

For further general information on the fire status, maps, travel restrictions, burning permit cancellations or other restrictions go to www.gov.mb.ca/wildfire/ or follow the Twitter account at www.twitter.com/mbgovnews.

To report a wildfire, call 911 or the T.I.P. line (toll-free) at 1-800-782-0076. The T.I.P. line is dedicated for reporting fires.