Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says thousands more evacuees are expected and the city of Flin Flon is virtually deserted as wildfires continue to rage in his province.
Kinew told a Friday news conference the mayor, councillors , health-care staff, and all other officials have had to depart Flin Flon.
“The only folks remaining on the ground are firefighters and folks in the office of the fire commissioner and RCMP, who are there to battle the blaze,” Kinew said.
“We do expect some very, very challenging conditions in Flin Flon and in the surrounding community.” He added, “Pray for rain.”
Meanwhile, south of Flin Flon, Cranberry Portage is now under a mandatory evacuation order as wildfires flank both sides of Highway 10.
In a social media post from the RM of Kelsey, Municipal emergency coordinator Lori Forbes says multiple Hydro poles are damaged and power may be out in the area for days.
Residents are asked to leave the community by 3 p.m. on Saturday and go to the Billy Mosienko Arena at 709 Keewatin Street in Winnipeg.
Highway 10 is currently closed so you will have to travel down Highway 39 instead.
This is the second time in just over a year Cranberry Portage has been evacuated due to wildfires.
The evacuees are among 17,000 people reported so far to be out of their homes due to a number of wildfires burning in remote regions from Manitoba’s northwest to the southeast.
Kinew said as the fires grow, thousands more evacuees can be expected and that communities like Winnipeg, Thompson and The Pas have already stepped up to help provide food and shelter.
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He said he spoke with some evacuees in Winnipeg.
“(It’s) very scary, very tiring, long days for people who’ve been on the road and in the air to find their way to safety,” he said.
Kinew said outside help has arrived, including 125 firefighters from the United States.
He said Canadian Armed Forces personnel are flying out evacuees from the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, north of Flin Flon.
He said the airport near Mathias Colomb, also known as Pukatawagan, has not been damaged by the fire.
Earlier Friday, Flin Flon Mayor George Fontaine said fierce winds were threatening to breach city limits and begin burning structures in the city of 5,000, located 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
All residents, along with 1,000 more in the surrounding area, have had to leave.
“Unless we get one heck of a boost, (the fire) is projected to take chunks out of our town and surrounding areas,” Fontaine said in an interview.
“It’s looking very ugly right now. We’re begging for air support (to help douse the fire). It’s really crucial.”
Winnipeg has opened up public buildings for evacuees as it deals with hotels already crammed with other fire refugees, vacationers, business people and conventiongoers. The province declared a provincewide state of emergency this week to help various levels of government coordinate a response.
The fire menacing Flin Flon began Monday near Creighton, Sask., and quickly jumped the boundary into Manitoba. It has grown rapidly and as of early Friday stood at 380 square kilometres.
Crews have struggled to contain it. Water bombers have been intermittently grounded due to heavy smoke and a drone incursion.
The 1,200 or so residents of Creighton have also been ordered out, many of whom have gone to nearby Nipawin, Sask. In total, more than 8,000 people have fled wildfires in Saskatchewan.
Steve Roberts from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency told reporters Friday winds have pushed wildfires significant distances.
The fire near Creighton and Flin Flon is moving towards those communities, and crews are preparing to put up barriers should flames get to the outskirts, he said.
Officials also said multiple structures have been lost in a fire near East Trout Lake, but exact numbers aren’t known.
Winds are expected to shift, said the agency’s Marlo Pritchard.
“A lot of the smoke that has been sitting for the last day or so will be moving south,” he said. “In the next 24 to 48 hours, the communities in the south of the province will experience extreme smoke conditions.”
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