Rainfall, firefighting efforts brighten outlook for wildfire evacuees

Significant rainfall and firefighting efforts over the past few days could pave the way for thousands of wildfire evacuees to soon begin their journey home.

Some areas in northern Manitoba measured more than 100 millimetres of rain over the last 10 days, providing a deep soak to fire-stricken areas.

“It’s definitely been really good news recently for a lot of these areas that have been dealing with the fires this summer,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Crawford Luke. “And then the potential (for rain) over the next, sort of, seven to 10 days looks encouraging.”

Lynn Lake received 106 millimetres of rain in the last 10 days, while communities near Island Lake got about half that amount.

The fire danger across the province is considered low, the province announced in its latest fire bulletin Thursday, one day before the scheduled end to the provincewide state of emergency, Manitoba’s second since May.

“It’s definitely been really good news recently for a lot of these areas that have been dealing with the fires this summer.”–Meteorologist Crawford Luke

Five communities remain evacuated, including Marcel Colomb First Nation, Mathias Colomb First Nation, Snow Lake, Lynn Lake and Leaf Rapids. About 7,450 people were out of their homes as of Thursday, roughly 4,800 of them lodged in hotel rooms across Manitoba.

Manitoba recently sent water bombers to Nova Scotia, where wildfires have intensified in recent days. Work on the fires in Manitoba has, by and large, transitioned to ground-crew and helicopter resources, a provincial spokesperson said in an email.

According to the latest fire bulletin, the status of five fires of note has changed from “out of control” to “being held,” and an 85,000-hectare fire burning near Lynn Lake is now under control.

The province is monitoring 149 active wildfires across the province. There have been 417 to date, making it the worst season on record in 30 years.

Air quality across Manitoba was at a low risk Thursday afternoon, according to AQMap, a site that compiles data from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Snow Lake rescinded its mandatory evacuation order effective Friday at 8 a.m. The community, located about 680 kilometres north of Winnipeg was evacuated July 10 for the second time this season. The first evacuation lasted a week. The second, seven weeks.

Last week Mayor Ron Scott said sprinklers were being taken down and essential services, including a grocery store, were being restored to help prepare for residents once provincial officials deem it safe to go back.

In Leaf Rapids, an update on the town’s social media page says work is being done to identify hot spots along Highway 391 near the south end of town, as well as restore power to much of the community.

Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura said about 1,300 customers across Manitoba remain without power due to damage from wildfires.

Hundreds of wood poles are known to be damaged or destroyed and workers are just beginning to get safe access to some areas to fully assess the situation.

The 176,000-hectare fire burning near Leaf Rapids is being held, according to the province.

Evacuees from Mathias Colomb First Nation have been out of their homes since late May, initially due to a nearby fire and now due to an ongoing power outage.

As of Thursday, Chura did not have estimated restoration times for Mathias Colomb, Lynn Lake, Marcel Colomb, South Indian Lake and Leaf Rapids.

As of Monday, the primary wildfire evacuation reception centre in Winnipeg is now located at the Holiday Inn at 1740 Ellice Ave. The reception centre at the RBC Convention Centre is now closed.

The rain across much of Manitoba has been a relief to many, but the long-range forecast shows it might be short-lived.

“September is still potentially a warm month and we could still get into that kind of pattern. It looks like a lot of the provinces are gonna get warm and dry over the next little while,” Environment Canada’s Luke said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

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Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.