Manitoba wildfire evacuees given all-clear to head home

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This article was published 10/09/2017 (2960 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Wildfire evacuees from a northern Manitoba First Nation are heading home after community leaders gave the all-clear Sunday for St. Theresa Point.

The Red Cross said 1,068 evacuees were registered with the agency and most were staying in Winnipeg and Brandon. Some were put up in Thompson.

“It’s really going very well,” said Red Cross spokeswoman Lisa Saunders. “There are a number of planes, each with about 42 to 50 seats and all the flights scheduled today have gone out.”

Hundreds left two Winnipeg hotels and to fly to the northern community; more will go Monday.

“Hopefully, in the next couple of days, everyone from St. Theresa Point will be going home,” Saunders said.

There was no word on a timetable for going home on the weekend from the St. Theresa’s two sister communities in Island Lake: Wasagamack and Garden Hill First Nations.

Meanwhile a provincial spokesman said Sunday the the status of the wildfire, a blaze the size of the city of Winnipeg, hasn’t changed.

It was being held at 28,000 hectares and is still looming over the remote isolated communities located about 600 kilometres north east of Winnipeg, deep in Manitoba’s boreal forest.

“It is great that the people of St. Theresa Point are able to head home and get back to their lives,” said Shawn Feely, Canadian Red Cross vice-president for Manitoba and Nunavut in a prepared statement.

Residents of three Manitoba First Nations were flown out of their communities, starting on Aug. 29, due to wildfires. A full evacuation of Wasagamack First Nation was conducted, with people who have health concerns being evacuated from St. Theresa Point First Nation and Garden Hill First Nation.

The decision on when to let residents return home is made by each First Nation, in consultation with the federal government.

The Red Cross and the federal government work together to provide disaster assistance to Manitoba First Nations. The Red Cross provides lodging, food and other necessary items, such as hygiene items and diapers.

For more than 10 days, the Red Cross ran two massive shelters when hotels came up short of rooms in Winnipeg and Brandon.

By the end of this week, as evacuees were moved into rooms left vacant by hundreds of evacuees who returned to their community of Poplar River this week, the numbers dropped drastically.

The Red Cross closed the first shelter, for 1,000, at the RBC Convention Centre late last week.

The number of evacuees in the WSF Soccer Complex, the second shelter, was down to a few dozen (44 on Saturday night) by the weekend. There is no word yet when that shelter will close.

For the flights home, the Red Cross has been co-ordinating transportation in consultation with St. Theresa Point. An Island Lake spokesperson wasn’t available for comment on the weekend.

“The Red Cross is facilitating the bussing and the flights and the agency is working closely with leadership in all the communities,” Saunders said.