All eyes on Hwy. 6: Thompson preps for wildfire evacuation

The City of Thompson issued a pre-evacuation alert Friday, warning a mandatory evacuation could be ordered in the next few days should an out-of-control wildfire close Highway 6.

Officials in northern Manitoba’s largest city told 13,000-plus residents to prepare in case an evacuation is necessary.

If a mandatory evacuation order is issued, residents will be given 12 hours to pack what they need and leave, the city said.

Hwy. 6 is northern Manitoba’s main corridor, linking Thompson to Winnipeg, some 700 kilometres to the south.

“If it got the highway, that’s our only route out of town,” Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook told the Free Press. “We’re monitoring that highway closely.”

The fire that could potentially reach the highway was burning about 100 km south of Thompson.

The blaze, which was detected May 20, was about 84,377 hectares in size. It forced a mandatory evacuation of Pimicikimak Cree Nation and Cross Lake for three weeks in May and June.

The City of Thompson is preparing for different scenarios in case a full or partial evacuation is necessary. Smook said planes and buses are being arranged, if needed.

“So there won’t be a panic at the last minute,” she said. “We’re unique that we’re used to being the centre that everybody is evacuated to. It could be our turn this time around.”

About 10,000 Thompson residents have pre-registered with the city for a possible evacuation, the mayor said.

The Manitoba government, which declared a second state of emergency Thursday, is preparing in case Thompson residents are forced to flee. A shelter with enough space for 7,000 people is being set up at the convention centre in downtown Winnipeg. Hotels outside Manitoba could be used as temporary housing.

The province reported 107 active fires Friday afternoon, including a 16,370-hectare blaze about 14 km north of Thompson, amid Manitoba’s worst wildfire season in at least 30 years.

Smook said favourable weather, including light winds, rain and cooler temperatures, have helped keep the city out of immediate danger from that fire.

The blaze has grown to the north, which won’t affect any communities or critical structures, she said, while crews have been creating fire guards and doing other preventative work between the blaze and the community.

While she is cautiously optimistic, the mayor said the wind direction — and the risk to Thompson — could change in the days ahead.

Smook said she requested more helicopters to help transport firefighters when she spoke to Premier Wab Kinew on Friday.

Firefighters from across Manitoba have joined the effort. Smook said 40 from New Zealand and some from Mexico will soon arrive.

A crew from New Zealand arrived in Pimicikamak on Friday, Chief David Monias said. Several fires are burning in the area.

Monias said firefighters, equipped with floating pumps, will be sent toward a fire north of the community to extinguish any embers that land on Cross Lake’s islands.

“If we can save the islands, that will stop the fire from jumping to our community,” said Monias, who had advocated for a fire break to be built between the blaze and Pimicikimak and the neighbouring incorporated community of Cross Lake.

He will be part of a group of First Nations leaders who will meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa next week to discuss the Building Canada Act (Bill C-5).

Monias said he would like to discuss wildfires, too, including a need for more firefighters and equipment in the North, but he doesn’t think the prime minister will have time to do so.

In a social media post, the Town of Snow Lake said Friday that sprinklers were set up to protect structures, while several fires burn in the area. The community, home to about 1,100 people, is under a mandatory evacuation order.

The Town of Lynn Lake said a new fire was tracking toward the Laurie River generating station, which provides electricity to the community. Lynn Lake and Marcel Colomb First Nation were previously evacuated.

The Manitoba Wildfire Service cancelled all existing burn permits Friday because Manitoba is at a high to very high fire-danger level.

Bird Lake campground in Nopiming Provincial Park has reopened, the province said. Tulabi Falls campground is closed until Aug. 4.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca