Wildfire season goes from worse to worst Second state of emergency declared as burn area climbs to highest amount recorded By: Chris Kitching Posted: 10:36 AM CDT Thursday, Jul. 10, 2025 Last Modified: 8:53 PM CDT Thursday, Jul. 10, 2025 Updates

Manitoba has declared a second provincewide state of emergency, as about 6,000 more evacuees fled their homes Thursday amid the worst wildfire season in at least 30 years.

The convention centre in downtown Winnipeg will become a shelter with enough space for 7,000 evacuees, following mandatory evacuations in Garden Hill Anisininew Nation — where residents were airlifted by the Canadian Armed Forces — and Snow Lake, and precautionary measures in case Thompson residents have to flee.

“The primary reason we have called this latest state of emergency is because we need access to more facilities to be able to shelter this large number of Manitobans who are being forced to flee their homes due to wildfires,” Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference.

With hotel rooms in the capital city in short supply, the shelter at the convention centre will be set up under emergency powers. It will become active after Manitoba’s largest anime convention, Ai-Kon, is held this weekend.

“We are looking to scale up very quickly and do our best to accommodate a balancing act between those activities and the very emergent needs of wildfire evacuees and northern communities across Manitoba,” Kinew said.

The 30-day state of emergency can be extended, if necessary.

The first emergency was declared May 28, under similar circumstances. The measure was cancelled June 23, after several fires posed less of a threat and many evacuees returned home.

Manitoba’s wildfire situation recently worsened due to high temperatures, winds and lightning strikes, which have caused dozens of new fires, officials said.

More firefighters and equipment were on their way to Garden Hill, said Alex McDougall, grand chief of Anisininew Okimawin, the tribal council that represents four First Nations in the Island Lake area.

“The fire has breached and is in a portion of the community that has been evacuated,” he said by phone from Garden Hill on Thursday afternoon. “The fire has completely surrounded the community.”

High winds were expected to push flames closer, he added.

McDougall said St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation, on the opposite side of Island Lake, declared a state of emergency Thursday, while several fires burned in the region.

“That’s going to require more resources to airlift their community members,” he said of a pending evacuation.

Manitoba reported 105 active fires Thursday.

Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Wildfire Service, said it is the worst fire season in three decades of electronic record-keeping.

More than one million hectares of land has burned — nearly 11 times the 20-year average of 94,000 hectares — surpassing the record of 720,000 hectares in 2013, she said.

Manitoba has recorded 261 wildfires so far this year, above an average of 197 for July 10.

Mandatory evacuations were in place for nine communities or areas, displacing about 12,600 Manitobans, said Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization.

There were more than 22,000 evacuees at the peak in mid-June.

More than 4,000 evacuees from Garden Hill — a remote fly-in community about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg — are expected to be flown to the capital on CAF Hercules aircraft and commercial planes.

The airlift began Wednesday night and will take some time to complete, after the province requested federal help.

Kinew said seven flights were expected to transport 1,000 evacuees to Winnipeg on Thursday.

McDougall said about 350 people left Wednesday night.

Hayward said three fires merged to become a 2,000-hectare, out-of-control blaze that threatened Garden Hill’s fuel tank farm and other structures, prompting the evacuation.

About 1,000 Snow Lake residents were ordered to leave by noon Thursday for the second time since June 7, when the community was evacuated for a week. The town is about 690 km northwest of Winnipeg.

Mayor Ron Scott said a new fire, about 16 km southwest of Snow Lake, prompted the latest evacuation.

“This is totally unprecedented,” he said about a second evacuation in a single wildfire season. “I think everybody is feeling a little bit frustrated and stressed out. We hoped it wouldn’t happen again.”

The evacuation was ordered after the Manitoba Wildfire Service informed the town high winds were expected to push the 3,000-hectare blaze closer to Snow Lake.

Most evacuees drove out on their own and a majority is expected to stay with friends and family. Scott said one resident left via a medical evacuation flight.

Those who don’t have personal transportation boarded two buses bound for a reception centre and congregate shelter at an indoor soccer complex on Leila Avenue in Winnipeg.

The City of Winnipeg also offered Billy Mosienko Arena in case space is needed, Kinew said. “The reality is that people who evacuate in Manitoba now will be heading to congregate shelters for the most part.”

Some hotel rooms are set aside for elders or people with “high medical needs,” the premier added.

Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake) said it is sending more of its evacuees to Niagara Falls, Ont., where about 1,400 people from northern Manitoba were staying as of last week.

McDougall said Niagara Falls was mentioned as a possible destination for Garden Hill evacuees, too.

The premier said Alberta has also offered to take in evacuees from Manitoba.

Thompson is pre-registering residents in case an evacuation of all or parts of northern Manitoba’s largest city is necessary. The province has been preparing in case it needs to find hotels or shelter space for some or all of its 13,000-plus residents.

An out-of-control blaze north of Thompson was an estimated 10,000 hectares. Hayward said rain helped crews make good progress Thursday to help shore up the fire’s southern side, which is threatening the city.

Meantime, organizers of two upcoming events at the Winnipeg convention centre were not advised of any changes to their plans while part of the building is used as an evacuation site.

Mario Tenuta, executive chair of the organizing committee for the Soils for Our Future conference, said the event will go ahead as scheduled July 20-25, after speaking to convention centre officials.

He was told the third-floor exhibition hall, which is the venue’s largest space, will be prepared for evacuees. Tenuta said the Soils for Our Future conference is being held in rooms on lower floors.

“Everybody is nervous about Thompson. If Thompson is evacuated, that will be a big issue for the whole province,” he said.

The convention centre will host some Folklorama pavilions in August. Folklorama spokeswoman Vanessa Desorcy said the organization has not received any information that would indicate the pavilions would be affected.

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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