Community spirit soars amid wildfire fight

Wildfires across eastern Manitoba have claimed the lives of a Lac du Bonnet couple, destroyed dozens of homes and upended the lives of people forced to flee the advancing flames with little notice.

The Free Press spoke with several business owners and residents to learn how they are coping amid the loss.

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Christine McMahon woke up Wednesday with unexpected clarity.

The widow of a volunteer firefighter who died of brain cancer last year had gone to bed wondering how she could help crews battling the wildfire just north of Lac du Bonnet.

The answer came to her in a dream.

“I had just bought half a cow and had hundreds of pounds of meat in the freezer,” McMahon explained. “In my dream, Kevin told me that hamburgers wouldn’t work — they’d go cold before the firefighters could eat them. But he said my sloppy joes were amazing.”

By 7:15 a.m., she was in her kitchen, cooking more than 200 pounds of hamburger. McMahon delivered a large stock pot full of her sloppy joes to the initial attack centre, and another smaller pot to the emergency command centre.

“I noticed they didn’t have much else — no snacks, no drinks,” she said.

She went out and bought buns, Gatorade, water and chips — “in honour of my husband.”

Still feeling called to do more, McMahon turned to the roasts. She smoked seven of them outside and cooked seven more inside her home.

“I just stood at that grill, praying that God and Kevin would cook everything,” she said, adding she had never used the smoker.

By Friday afternoon, McMahon was back at the command centre with food in hand.

Around mid-afternoon, she delivered enough spaghetti to feed an army of hungry firefighters.

“Today was supposed to be my rest day,” she said, laughing.

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Employees at the Hi-Point Restaurant in West Hawk Lake are busy packing 180 bagged lunches for RCMP officers and emergency personnel.

The local chamber of commerce asked the diner to stay open amid the shutdown of Whiteshell Provincial Park so firefighters and first responders had access to meals.

“It was something we were willing to do and we wanted to help,” said owner Laura Bullee.

Some sit down for a slice of pizza and a quick break, while others grab a packaged meal and head right back to the front lines.

Bullee said the park closure is a financial hit, but it’s the right move.

She has property in Longpine Lake, a community near Ingolf, Ont. As of Friday afternoon, the property remains untouched by fire, but a change in wind direction could jeopardize that.

“At this point, we’re more worried about safety than the business,” Bullee said. “There’s been so much loss out there.”

Bullee’s conversation with a reporter was cut short; she had more meals to pack and mouths to feed.

“At this point, we’re more worried about safety than the business. There’s been so much loss out there.”–Laura Bullee

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In Steinbach, Sleep Suite 22 Motel’s dining room is bustling with evacuees, who have their pets in tow, during the breakfast service.

The 50-room motel, along with eight other hotels in Winnipeg and southeastern Manitoba, offered accommodation and meals to people who had to leave the fire zone.

“My first reaction when I heard was I called the Red Cross … any way to help,” said Marie McGuirk, Sleep Suite’s general manager.

Residents from Kenora, 200 kilometres to the east, arrived at the inn after fleeing the fire that started near Ingolf Tuesday night and, before she knew it, McGuirk was fielding calls from the RM of Piney asking if she would offer her rooms to evacuees from that area.

Since then, residents from Lac du Bonnet, the Whiteshell and near Piney have taken up residence in the motel, filling more than half the rooms.

The offer to evacuees stands until at least Tuesday, McGuirk said.

Staff from the hotel have family who have been evacuated from the area, which brings the emergency closer to home.

McGuirk said even though evacuees escaped with few possessions, they remain in high spirits.

“There’s been a lot of community spirit,” she said. “Obviously, it’s not a great situation for them to be in, but it seems to be that people are making the best of it.”

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On the Trans-Canada Highway just outside Richer, Hank Kervel said not a soul had come to Geppetto’s Mini Golf and Snack Shack Friday morning.

On a sunny, warm May long weekend, hundreds of people normally stop by for a round of mini golf, an ice-cream cone or to munch on a pizza before heading to the lake.

The biz typically makes $10,000 on a typical long weekend.

This year, Kervel said he will be lucky if he makes $100.

“Around five o’clock on Fridays of a long weekend, everybody’s heading up to the cottage and we get belted with people and it gets crazy,” he said. “Looking out my living room window, I can see the highway as the trucks go by… it’s dead.”

The business relies on weekend warriors and residents travelling to and from Winnipeg and the Whiteshell and Kenora for most of its income, but with Whiteshell Provincial Park closed owing to a large wildfire near the Manitoba-Ontario border, his chances of any business has gone up in smoke.

The business has been hit especially hard since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on some goods and tourism is down in general, he said.

The fires have affected Kervel personally; his son has a new trailer in the Whiteshell but couldn’t get to it before the evacuations and park closure were announced.

“He’s hoping and praying it doesn’t get burnt to the ground,” Kervel said.

“The financial loss for me sucks, I just feel more bad for the people that have homes out there and that are losing them,” he said.

“Today, I’m glad for the rain.”

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Rain fell in Lac du Bonnet Thursday night, much to the relief of nearly 1,000 evacuees, but Eric Labaupa made the difficult decision to postpone the inaugural bass fishing derby set for Saturday.

“It was after news of the unfortunate deaths of the two folks there, and that was sort of the guiding thing,” Labaupa said Friday.

The avid fisherman hosts several tournaments in different parts of the province, but this was supposed to be the kickoff for a new one on Lac du Bonnet Lake.

About 50 people registered for the contest and were looking forward to competing for prizes, but did not protest when Labaupa postponed it until June.

Earlier this week, Labaupa watched for updates on the fire threat every hour. Each bulletin got worse and the prospect of holding the tournament seemed increasingly inappropriate.

“It would have been in poor taste to hold anything when people are fighting for the property, and then lives were affected,” he said.

Friends and fishing buddies of Labaupa were among the evacuees in the area. As of Friday, they were still waiting to hear if they could return home to assess any damage caused by the fire.

Many lost their boats in the blaze.

“It’s really hitting close to home to everybody,” he said. “Having a fun tournament is the last thing on our minds right now.”

Labaupa was told the best thing to do was to keep the water clear so front-line workers and RCMP officers had space to do their work.

“Give everyone space to do their thing, so that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

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More than 110 kilometres southwest of the wildfires, MC College on Wall Street in Winnipeg is preparing to give evacuees some TLC.

The college, which has programs in hair styling and esthetics, has offered free services to anyone affected by the fires.

“Getting a little bit of pampering takes your mind off of some of the heaviness that we deal with on a day-to-day basis,” said campus director Anna McGregor.

“It’s really life-changing sometimes for people that are in dire situations.”

McGregor said she was hit hard by news of the fires and wanted to help.

The college decided to open its doors until mid-June for evacuees and support personnel.

MC staff and their family members, too, have been affected by the fires.

Hair, nail, makeup and skin care services are among some of the options for evacuees needing primping.

“It seems trivial, but anything we can do to help,” she said. “Getting away and having an hour to yourself and maybe taking your mind off of things for a while might just help a little bit.”

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca