Province as prepared for devastating 2025 wildfires as it could have been: NDP Government preparing for — but not expecting — repeat of last summer By: Chris Kitching Posted: 12:19 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026 Last Modified: 6:02 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2026 Updates

Manitoba government ministers defended the response to 2025’s deadly and devastating wildfire season Tuesday, insisting the province was as prepared as it could have been.

The government published a 20-page interim report, which includes new measures for 2026 and onwards, amid an ongoing after action review of Manitoba’s worst fire season in 30 years.

“We were as prepared as we could possibly have been for a season like we had,” Lisa Naylor, the minister responsible for the Emergency Management Organization, said at a news conference in Brandon.

“We hope we won’t see a season like that this year and, at the same time, we’re going to be even more prepared.”

She said the province handled the situation as best as it could, working closely with affected communities over a season that started earlier and had many fires burning at the same time in different regions.

In excess of 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) of land were burned by more than 445 fires.

The report did not contain an assessment of Manitoba’s readiness at the beginning of the 2025 season. Naylor said a final version in the fall will contain an independent analysis by the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.

Richard and Susan Nowell, who lived near Lac du Bonnet, died in a rapidly moving fire in May. Fires displaced more than 33,000 Manitobans — the most on record — and affected about 60 communities, mainly in northern and eastern Manitoba.

About 4,100 evacuees were rescued by the Canadian Armed Forces in what the report called the largest domestic air evacuation operation in Canadian history.

“We hope we won’t see a season like that this year and, at the same time, we’re going to be even more prepared.”

Two provincial states of emergency were declared. Some northern First Nations and municipalities were without electricity for months, delaying the return of evacuees.

Hundreds of firefighters were brought in from municipal departments, other parts of Canada and as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

The NDP government’s 2026-27 budget said emergency expenditures are expected to be over budget by $333 million due to the wildfire season.

Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie said the province is not expecting a repeat of 2025 this year, but it is preparing for one.

Bushie said “zombie” fires burned underground through the winter but have not flared up to become forest fires as of Tuesday. A provincial spokesperson said there is no current count, and monitoring will resume when snow melts.

Bushie and Naylor said the 2025 review is looking at what was done right, and where the province can close gaps and improve, with input from municipalities, First Nations and workers.

2025 Wildfire – Interim After Action Review

 

The province faced questions or criticism at times last year regarding Manitoba Wildfire Service staffing levels and pre-season forest management efforts. Bushie said the service was strained, but it held.

A lack of hotel rooms meant extended stays in congregate shelters and thousands of evacuees being sent to Niagara Falls, Ont.

Some First Nations leaders last year said the communication from governments was poor, and the response or requests for additional personnel or equipment were delayed by bureaucracy.

The NDP also faced questions last year over its decision to conduct an internal review, rather than an external one, to assess the wildfire service’s response preparedness immediately after taking office from the Tories in 2023.

Tory Leader Obby Khan said Manitobans should be “worried and concerned about a lack of preparedness” by the NDP.

“It’s the NDP government looking into NDP decisions that they made while in government,” he said of the review. “No independent review, no fact-checking, no auditing, no criticism.”

“No independent review, no fact-checking, no auditing, no criticism.”

Some of the government’s initial steps to be better prepared were revealed in the budget earlier this month.

They include $1.2 million for 19 more firefighters, $1.1 million for aerial firefighting, $1 million for 15 permanent Emergency Management Organization positions, expanded wildfire training for northern First Nations, and $1.2 million for weather information and fire-mapping system upgrades.

A new initial attack and fire base will be built in the Thompson area.

Bushie said mitigation efforts, such as brush clearing, are part of 2026 preparations. The province provided funding for fire breaks near Snow Lake.

The province said emergency and evacuation plans are being updated, and communication and partnerships with First Nations and municipalities are being improved.

The province also pledged to improve emergency communications to the public, and to make it easier for evacuees to register and receive financial benefits.

Naylor said the government’s approach last year was a united one that supported people based on their needs, rather than jurisdiction.

“Although we were prepared, can one ever be fully prepared for an event like that?”

Shirley Ducharme, acting grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, which represents northern First Nations, said the season revealed gaps in northern infrastructure and the evacuation response.

More timely supports are needed for evacuees, said Ducharme, who welcomed the initial measures.

“We must address the longstanding gaps that leave our people waiting weeks and months to return home, and the long wait for power to be restored,” said Ducharme, the chief of O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation. “These delays would not happen in the south.”

Loren Schinkel, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet, said the outcome of May fires in the RM would have been more devastating without the province’s swift help.

He echoed the need for governments and emergency organizations to collaborate.

The reeve said the RM revamped its emergency measures program after conducting its own review.

“Although we were prepared, can one ever be fully prepared for an event like that?” Schinkel said.

“With climate change, we have to look at our procedures and how we prep for wildfires in a different way now.”

Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Kyle Ross is encouraged the province is taking steps to be more prepared.

He said the wildfire service had 60 vacant positions at the start of 2025. Hiring for 2026 began earlier than usual.

“I can say we weren’t ready on the ground level for what happened, but it was also an anomaly year where the fires started much sooner than I think anyone anticipated,” Ross said. “With climate change, we have to look at our procedures and how we prep for wildfires in a different way now.”

Ross said MGEU wants the province to focus on retention and create more full-time positions for staff to remove wildfire “fuel,” such as brush, near communities in the off-season.

Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., was glad to see Manitoba is taking multiple approaches.

“We’re going to see more of these years in the future because we are, overall, getting warmer and drier,” he said.

Flannigan said money is best spent on aggressive initial fire attack efforts and “hardening” critical infrastructure, including electricity networks.

He has advocated for independent oversight committees for reviews of wildfire seasons. He was a member of an oversight group when the Northwest Territories hired an external company to conduct a review of its 2023 wildfire season.

Flannigan said 2026 could be an active fire season because there are still some drought conditions, and the seasonal forecast is suggesting a hot and mostly dry summer.

He said the season likely won’t begin as early as it did in 2025 due to the amount of snow remaining in many parts of Canada’s forests.

— with files from Carol Sanders

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca