‘What a roller-coaster’: Lynn Lake expected to lift evacuation order Friday

A mandatory evacuation order affecting a northern Manitoba community will soon be lifted, thanks to the efforts of crews who held a nearby wildfire at bay.

A blaze sparked outside Lynn Lake last week quickly grew out of control, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of people from the gold mining community over the weekend.

Lynn Lake Mayor Brandon Dulewich said Thursday he intends to lift the order Friday, about one week after the first evacuees began to leave.

“What a roller-coaster. When this thing started, it was coming right for town with the wind pushing it and not a lot in the line of defence. But, the overwhelming support from multiple agencies to come up and defend has allowed us to get it to the point where we feel comfortable,” Dulewich said.

“There was an incredible push on the provincial side to get crews up here and get the necessary equipment to fight this thing, and they’ve done amazing work.”

The Manitoba Wildfire Service, Office of the Fire Commissioner and fire departments from neighbouring communities dispatched crews and equipment to battle the blaze, which had reached within 11.5 kilometres of Lynn Lake and burned about 13,000 acres as of Thursday, a provincial spokesperson said.

Support from the nearby Alamos Gold mine also contributed.

Crews battled the blaze over several days and conducted multiple back burn operations — a firefighting tactic in which a smaller, controlled fire is sparked ahead of an approaching wildfire to proactively burn up natural fuels.

Dulewich and other Lynn Lake leaders will now participate in debriefing meetings with emergency and fire officials to discuss the successful response.

He said he would like the province to make further investments in the wildfire service, to improve its access to resources and ability to quickly respond to fires in the North.

“There’s a pretty great base here, it just needs the equipment and personnel,” Dulewich said.

Lynn Lake is located approximately 800 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg and home to about 600 people. More than 100 people from Marcel Colomb First Nation, located approximately 30 kilometres east of the community, were also evacuated as a result of the wildfire.

The province is currently tracking 152 active fires in Manitoba, but there are no immediate concerns for any communities at this time, the spokesperson said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca