Favourable wind shift pauses northern First Nation’s wildfire evacuation

Favourable winds have paused the evacuation of a northern Manitoba First Nation threatened by wildfire.

About 1,300 residents of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, also known as Nelson House, will remain in the community; 2,500 on-reserve residents were ordered out Sunday as wildfires burned nearby.

“The situation has improved a little bit over the last couple days. So, we have put a pause on the evacuations depending on what’s going to be happening with the next couple days based on the weather, the wind and the fire,” deputy chief Marcel Moody said Tuesday.

Residents still in the community, located about 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, will remain on an evacuation notice, but those already in the provincial capital will stay in the city for now.

There are at least two wildfires burning north of Nisichawayasihk. One had torched more than 46,000 hectares as of Sunday.

A full evacuation was ordered Sunday as fire and smoke surrounded the community, threatening the only access road.

Manitoba wildfire crews reported seven new fires in the northern region Tuesday: five in the Lac Brochet area, one north of the Notigi Control Structure and one in God’s Lake.

Moody said no one else will have to leave the community if the weather patterns hold.

Nisichawayasihk issued an evacuation order for high-priority residents — including some elders, people with serious illnesses and children with complex medical needs — in early July. Some have not been able to return home.

“There’s some people, they’re asthmatic. People have respiratory issues,” Moody said, adding he’s concerned about the long-term effects of the smoke on residents. “It’s terrible.”

An air-quality warning was in effect for the region Tuesday afternoon. Much of northern and central Manitoba were under warnings Monday.

Heavy smoke was expected to roll into Thompson Tuesday evening. The Manitoba Wildfire Service was unable to do much work on a fire burning near the city because of aircraft transporting Nisichawayasihk evacuees from the Thompson airport. That resulted in restrictions on other aircraft movements, the city said in an update posted on social media.

“This prevented crews from moving into the fire area,” the post said.

Multiple new fires from lightning strikes in the region are beginning to show up on the radar and continuing to make work for fire crews, Mayor Colleen Smook told the Free Press.

“Every time we get one or two under control, (it) seems one or two more pop ups. So we’re definitely not out of the woods yet,” she said.

Last week, Thompson extended its local state of emergency to Sept. 5. Residents remain on a 12-hour evacuation notice. Fire NO061, the blaze closest to the community, was about 10 kilometres away from city limits as of Tuesday.

“It would only take, you know, some really bad wind or wind from the wrong direction to start pushing the fire our way,” Smook said.

As of Sunday, 401 fires had burned approximately 1.5 million hectares of land across Manitoba since the beginning of the wildfire season. The average at this time of year is 299.

Crews from around Manitoba, Mexico and Australia are assisting in the fight near Thompson, Smook said.

“When that big smoke rolled in Friday and Saturday, it all gave us a wake-up call that, yes, we do need to be on alert,” she said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca