Residents forced to flee as wildfire threatens Cranberry Portage

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This article was published 12/05/2024 (511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Heavy winds and drought conditions transformed a northwestern Manitoba wildfire into an inferno over the weekend, prompting hundreds of residents to flee as flames and smoke encroached on their homes.

Significant smoke, generated by the blaze and carried south by high winds, blanketed large swaths of the province including Winnipeg, prompting air quality warnings from Environment Canada.

Conditions were expected to improve throughout the day Sunday, the weather service said.

“I was really nervous. I was scared for my family,” Cranberry Portage resident Leeta Charlette-Miller said by phone, describing the moment provincial officials issued an evacuation order for the area around 7 p.m. Saturday night.

“We thought it wasn’t going to get that big. It was just a small little fire at first,” she said.

In an update issued Sunday afternoon, the province said the blaze had grown to approximately 35,000 hectares (86,486 acres) as of Saturday night.

At the time of the update, the fire was 38 km long and 12 km wide and had moved to within one kilometre of Cranberry Portage, it said.

Lori Forbes, the municipal emergency coordinator for the area, confirmed about 700 people left Cranberry Portage after the evacuation order was issued.

Charlette-Miller said she and others in the community rushed to collect essential belongings and fuel up at a local gas station before evacuating to The Pas, located roughly 85 kilometres south.

They left the community around 9 p.m., she said.

“By that time, we could see the flames from our backyard,” she said.

She is now staying with relatives in The Pas, where she is keeping a close eye on weather conditions and fire reports.

“I’m honestly just worried about the wind because the wind seemed to shift about six times yesterday,” she said. “Many of the community houses are near the bush line. That’s where I stay, too, near the bush line … it’s nerve-wracking and it’s scary.”

The fire prompted the closure of a section of Highway 10 south of Cranberry Portage and at Bakers Narrows, the province said.

Officials also closed Sourdough Bay, east of Flin Flon, and evacuated the surrounding area.

An evacuee registration site has been established at the Wescanad Inn in the RM of Kelsey, where roughly 500 people have registered, the province said.

A second reception centre is operating from the Victoria Inn in Flin Flon, assisting residents affected by evacuation orders near the subdivisions of Sourdough Bay, Twin Lakes Cottage, Whitefish Lake Cottage, Schist Lake North Cottage and Bakers Cottage, and for people near Bakers Narrows Provincial Park.

Many evacuees will stay at hotels in The Pas, Winnipeg and Brandon until they are cleared to return home, Forbes said.

In a previous news release, the province said the blaze grew significantly overnight on Friday, igniting roughly 3,000 hectares of land (more than 7,4000 acres) by the following afternoon.

Around the same time, the province ordered an evacuation of homes and cottages near Flin Flon — warning the scale of the evacuation could be extended.

“There is extreme fire behaviour in the area due to drought conditions and high winds,” the province said. “People in the surrounding area are being asked to be prepared to leave if the situation worsens.”

The region is experiencing communication and power outages in Flin Flon, Sherridon Cranberry Portage and parts of Sourdough Bay. Manitoba Hydro is working to identify damaged infrastructure, the province said.

Fire crews are working with the Office of the Fire Commissioner and the Emergency Management Organization to respond to the blaze. An additional 10 fire crews from Ontario are expected to arrive “within a day or two,” the province said.

Air tankers from Manitoba and Saskatchewan are already attacking the flames, it said.

The fire could disrupt rail travel between Cranberry Portage and Pukatawagan, it said.

Work is underway to establish sprinklers around structures near Flin Flon with the help of local fire departments from Cranberry Portage and Flin Flon.

A second wildfire, burning north of The Pas, near Wanless, is also considered out of control. At the time of the latest update, roughly 1,500 hectares (3706 acres) were burning and fire crews were working to protect a hydro line between The Pas and Cranberry Portage.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca