Nopiming blaze destroys family cabin a second time

Richard Loiselle and his family have lost a second cabin in Nopiming Provincial Park to wildfire.

The family’s log cabin at Beresford Lake had replaced the decades-old original that was razed by a forest fire in 1983.

“It’s worse this time because we built it,” Loiselle said Tuesday. “The objects (inside the cabin) are gone, but we’re still around, so that’s OK.”

The out-of-control fire, officially known as EA061, has spread to more than 101,000 hectares in the Nopiming and Bird River areas of eastern Manitoba since it was caused by a lightning strike on May 12.

Nopiming is still closed to the public, along with Whiteshell Provincial Park, where some areas were threatened by an out-of-control wildfire (EA063) on the Manitoba-Ontario border.

The Manitoba Wildfire Service reported 11 active wildfires as of Monday, down from about 24 a week ago. Information displayed on an online map was a day old.

A third out-of-control fire, located west of Cranberry Portage in northern Manitoba, was detected Monday.

On Tuesday morning, officials said fire EA061 posed a threat to some areas in the neighbouring rural municipalities of Alexander and Lac du Bonnet due to its size and strong east winds. Ground crews, water bombers and helicopters with buckets battled the blaze.

At about 6 p.m., Alexander lifted an evacuation order for all residents west of provincial roads 313 and 315, while Lac du Bonnet ended an evacuation order for all residents from the junction of PR 313 and Belluk Road to the corner of PR 313 and 315.

“The municipality has been advised that the imminent risk of danger to life and properties in your area has diminished at this time,” a post on Alexander’s Facebook page said.

Lac du Bonnet said evacuations of subdivisions at Mascanow Drive, Sun Lee Road and Shuman Lane were still in effect.

“This has been a week now. We just ask for the residents’ patience and understanding,” RM of Lac du Bonnet Reeve Loren Schinkel said before additional residents were allowed to return home. “We want you to be safe. We don’t want to re-evacuate anybody.”

“This is the professionals letting us know when and how we can go back into these areas,” Alexander Mayor Jack Brisco said before the order was lifted. “Right now, they are saying it’s unsafe to go back.”

Alexander had not lost a building to the fire as of Tuesday morning, he noted.

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Returnees were required to register with their municipality’s CONNECT notification system, prepare a “go kit” and be prepared to leave on a two-hour evacuation notice, the RMs said.

Larry and Leta Lee, who live year-round at Flanders Lake in Nopiming, have been staying in a Beausejour hotel since the park closed May 13. While it has been a stressful week, they are thankful to be safe.

“The stress is not knowing when we can go back to our normal life or, more importantly, not knowing if this flare-up will cease,” Larry Lee said.

Conditions are still dry despite periods of rain and cooler temperatures over the May long weekend, he noted.

The province is covering the cost of hotel rooms and some expenses for evacuees.

Lee said he has “great appreciation” for Manitoba’s wildfire service and Emergency Management Organization, and the RMs of Alexander and Lac du Bonnet.

“Generally, I think it’s been managed as well as can be expected, and better than expected in some cases,” he said about the province’s response.

Loiselle said Manitoba Parks staff informed his family last Friday that his cabin had been destroyed.

“We saw (on online maps) that the fire was growing and growing, and said, ‘This isn’t looking good,’” he said.

His family, including his brother Robert Loiselle, the MLA for St. Boniface, is at a crossroads. When Nopiming reopens and it is safe to return, the Loiselles will assess the site and decide what to do next.

“Do we rebuild, or let it go to someone else?” Loiselle said.

The family has had a cabin at Beresford Lake since acquiring the property in the 1960s.

Loiselle thanked parks staff and firefighters who tried to protect properties in the area.

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“They did what they could, so kudos to them. The situation was so active and chaotic,” he said.

The fire on the Manitoba-Ontario boundary covered about 1,640 hectares in the Whiteshell as of Monday. The blaze was more than 31,000 hectares in size in Ontario.

Peter Brown, whose family has a cottage at West Hawk Lake, said updates specific to that area were infrequent and frustrating to find.

“We’re in contact with at least a dozen cottagers right now, trying to get little bits of information,” he said. “Some of these cottages have been in families for generations, and a lot of people have put blood, sweat and tears into additions and renovations. You’d hate to see the family cottage go up in flames.”

A separate fire, known as EA062, was no longer considered out of control in the RM of Lac du Bonnet, west of the Bird River/Nopiming blaze.

RM residents Sue and Richard Nowell died after they became trapped by the fire on May 13, the day after it started.

Lac du Bonnet MLA Wayne Ewasko told the legislature Tuesday the Nowells were “overtaken” by fast-moving flames when they returned to their home to try to rescue a pet.

“Their final moments were filled with love and selflessness, true to the lives they lived,” he said.

About 28 structures were destroyed in the RM.

The fire was about 4,000 hectares in size as of Monday. It is suspected to have started due to human activity, although the exact cause has not been disclosed.

The RM of Lac du Bonnet said the Grausdin Point and north Wendigo area remained under an evacuation order, after residents in other areas were allowed to return over the long weekend.

In southeastern Manitoba, hundreds of evacuees started returning to their homes in the RM of Piney on Monday, after a wildfire measuring about 8,900 hectares was contained.

The blaze, detected May 10, forced the evacuation of the communities of Badger, Carrick, St. Labre and Woodridge, and an area near Florze.

“We’re in a mop-up stage now, cleaning up everything and restoring things to where they were before the fire,” Reeve Wayne Anderson said. “I’m just grateful people were able to get back to their homes. The fire came very close to their towns.”

The RM hailed firefighters and others who helped to protect the communities. At least three structures were destroyed.

Water bombers, helicopters and ground crews were battling a roughly 30-hectare wildfire west of Cranberry Portage on Tuesday.

No evacuation orders were issued for the community, which was evacuated due to a wildfire at this time a year ago.

East winds were blowing the fire away from Cranberry Portage, said Lori Forbes, the RM of Kelsey’s emergency co-ordinator.

“They are definitely looking at this as a priority fire,” she said of the wildfire service.

A lightning strike is the suspected cause of the blaze.

— with files from Scott Billeck

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

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.

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