A wildfire, fuelled by hot, dry and windy conditions, tore through the Wendigo Beach area near Lac du Bonnet last week.

The blaze consumed 4,000 hectares of land, destroying 28 structures and forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people. Two area residents, Sue and Richard Nowell, died after becoming trapped by the blaze.

Free Press photojournalist Mikaela MacKenzie visited the region on Friday, a day after residents were allowed to return.

All that remains is a charred wasteland.

Aftermath of an inferno In pictures: Wildfire destruction at Lac du Bonnet's Wendigo Beach

wfpvideo:5S8IcsqJ:wfpvideo

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/05/2025 (481 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Mikaela MacKenzie

Mikaela MacKenzie
Photojournalist

Mikaela MacKenzie loves meeting people, experiencing new things, and learning something every day. That's what drove her to pursue a career as a visual journalist — photographers get a hands-on, boots-on-the-ground look at the world.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Seven years sought for serial harasser

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Preview

Seven years sought for serial harasser

Dean Pritchard 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Alexander Beaton finished serving a two-year jail sentence for criminally harassing six women and didn’t last two days in the community before he was back at it, sending unwanted obscene messages and videos to a dozen women.

Now prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison sentence for the 30-year-old Winnipeg man, whose latest string of victims includes a police officer who investigated his earlier crimes.

“He essentially continued (offending) unabated,” Crown attorney Brett Rach told provincial court Judge Malcolm McDonald at a sentencing hearing Friday. “It caused more than a nuisance to these victims — it caused them to fear for their safety.”

Beaton pleaded guilty to 14 charges of criminal harassment, sending indecent communications and breaching court orders for a campaign of harassment waged between 2015 and 2025.

Read
Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Man, 21, killed in animal attack on Manitoba First Nation

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Preview

Man, 21, killed in animal attack on Manitoba First Nation

Chris Kitching 5 minute read Monday, Sep. 14, 2026

The family of “a kind and gentle giant” is grief-stricken as officials try to determine what kind of animal killed the 21-year-old man in western Manitoba.

Moses Campeau was walking on a road to a friend’s house in Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, about 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, when he was fatally injured Sept. 9, his mother, Paula Campeau, said Monday.

“Moses was a kind and gentle giant,” she said. “He was a person who (people) would ask to come and help them, and he would go without even hesitating.”

Manitoba RCMP said officers from the Swan River detachment responded to a report of a suspicious death at about 3:10 a.m. The scene was held and the RCMP’s major crime services took over the investigation.

Read
Monday, Sep. 14, 2026

Son found guilty in hatchet slaying of his mother

Tessa Adamski 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

A Brandon man has been found guilty of killing his 71-year-old mother with a hatchet in the fall of 2023 after his lawyers argued he should be held not criminally responsible.

Teenage e-scooter driver in critical condition after crash

Chris Kitching 2 minute read 11:10 AM CDT

An electric scooter rider in their late teens suffered life-threatening injuries when they were hit by an SUV in southwest Winnipeg on Monday night.

Police said the collision happened at Waverley Street at Lake Crest Road at about 9:30 p.m.

The e-scooter rider was crossing Waverley when they were hit by a southbound 2010 Honda CR-V driven by a person who was also in their late teens.

The injured youth was in critical condition after the collision. They remained in hospital Wednesday. The driver remained on scene and was interviewed by investigators, police said.

Suspension on the horizon for Hellebuyck as pre-season set to start

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Preview

Suspension on the horizon for Hellebuyck as pre-season set to start

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Yesterday at 6:21 PM CDT

In this high stakes game of chicken, Kevin Cheveldayoff, Connor Hellebuyck or any of the potential suitors for the Winnipeg Jets franchise netminder appear ready to blink.

Read
Yesterday at 6:21 PM CDT

Rogers, Telus deny blame for June twister alert barrage

Malak Abas 3 minute read Preview

Rogers, Telus deny blame for June twister alert barrage

Malak Abas 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:21 AM CDT

Telecom companies say they aren’t to blame for the barrage of tornado alerts Manitobans received during severe thunderstorms in early June.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced in August it would investigate the unusually high number of alerts, and called on the Pelmorex Corp., which operates the national Alert Ready system, along with telecom companies Bell, Rogers and Telus to respond to a number of questions.

They were given until last Friday to describe their possible roles in the creation, receipt, processing or distribution of alerts issued from Environment and Climate Change Canada in the midst of the June 9 storm.

Telus said in its response that it received 133 alert requests targeted to Manitoba created by Environment Canada and forwarded by Pelmorex between 2:35 p.m. June 9 and 3:29 a.m. the following day. While the majority of those messages contained identical information and were automatically suppressed, 17 were ultimately sent out as alerts in Winnipeg.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 7:21 AM CDT