Evacuation continues in Marcel Colomb First Nation: RCMP

RCMP continue to help with the wildfire-related evacuation of Marcel Colomb First Nation in northern Manitoba.

The community, also known as Black Sturgeon Falls, is roughly a half-hour drive east of Lynn Lake.

Evacuations of Flin Flon and other communities such as Lynn Lake, Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and Tataskweyak Cree Nation have been completed, RCMP said in a news release Monday.

Mounties, firefighters and emergency medical responders remain in the evacuated communities to keep properties secure and maintain roadblocks, RCMP said.

Amid the mass movement of those displaced, RCMP detachments in towns and cities hosting evacuees are seeing an increase in calls for service, spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre said.

He said it’s not yet clear to RCMP whether the increase in calls is directly related to the evacuees.

“As you can imagine, a large influx of a population moving into an area produces a lot of stress and anxiety for everyone, and people have been calling in to detachments with a lot of questions, which would normally be handled by many more detachments, as opposed to just the few now who are handling the workload,” he said.

“It’s too early to say what the direct effect is on police resources at this time, but we want to reiterate to the public that everyone’s co-operation and patience is key in assisting us on providing the best possible service we can.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca