The wildfire situation threatening the northwestern Manitoba community of Cranberry Portage is not getting better — but it’s not getting worse, and that is a small victory, says the municipal emergency co-ordinator for the region.
“But things can change as we well know. On Saturday, things changed in minutes,” Lori Forbes told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Monday morning.
The entire population of just over 600 people was evacuated Saturday as the fire marched within a kilometre of the community, devouring trees on thousands of hectares of land.
Videos posted by residents on social media sites show smoke-choked sky and tall columns of flames pushing toward the road, consuming trees as ash and sparks fly.
“Insane, unimaginable,” is how Forbes described the scenario as people fled.
The majority of people have gone south to The Pas but others headed to different communities in the province as well as Saskatchewan and even Alberta.
WATCH | Emergency crews move through forest fire near Cranberry Portage:
Hundreds of residents in a small Manitoba community were told to evacuate the area as a wildfire near Flin Flon continues to burn out of control.
“We’ve pretty much filled up The Pas, Swan River, probably all the way down to Dauphin. But everyone’s safe, which is our priority,” Forbes said, speaking to CBC News from The Pas, where a reception centre at the Wescana Inn is registering evacuees and arranging accommodations.
“It’s absolute terror, but we try to focus on the fact that you’re safe. You’re here.”
Debbie Asham grabbed some clothes, but that was about it, before she dashed from her home to drive to The Pas.
“Oh, it happened quick. We were on a two-hour evacuation notice and then it turned to 10 minutes. Next thing you know the police are outside saying, ‘You need to leave,’ so that’s what we did,” she said Monday while sitting in the Wescana Inn reception area.
“We kind of expected something to happen because of the winter and how little snow we had, but it was too fast.”
The blaze, first detected on Thursday, is believed to have been started by lightning strikes. It’s been fuelled by high winds and drought conditions.
At last word from the province Monday, it was still 38 kilometres long and 12 kilometres wide. It’s about 35,000 hectares (86,486 acres) in size, according to the Manitoba wildfire map.
Cranberry Portage is about 585 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, near the Saskatchewan border. It’s along Highway 10, which links it to Flin Flon, about 40 kilometres to the northwest, and The Pas, 80 kilometres south.
“The only folks that are in that community now are the wildfire services [personnel] that are still monitoring … all of the homes [and] the structures,” Forbes said about Cranberry Portage.
“The highway’s blocked and we have RCMP at the barricades not allowing folks in.”
Larry Smerch watched the black smoke through the morning on Saturday while he packed a camper in case he had to leave.
Despite that, in the suddenness of the evacuation order, he forgot his suitcase full of clothes.
“It was scary, but we’ve had to do it once before. Cranberry weathered that one as well, so I’m hoping,” he said, listing a number of belongings left behind.
“And a lot of things we’ve collected over the years,” he said, then abruptly stopped to hold back a cry. “My wife passed away about a year and a half ago, so when I start talking about collectibles, I just thought about her.”
The couple lived together “in a beautiful place” on the lake for close to 45 years, he said.
The thought of losing the house and belongings is painful, but it’s only “stuff,” he said.
“I think the most important things in life are friends.”
Strong northerly winds on Sunday pushed the smoke hundreds of kilometres south in Manitoba, creating air quality warnings well into Winnipeg. As of Monday, there are air quality statements only for the region around the fires.
“You can definitely smell fire, but depending on the wind, the smoke is actually not terrible this morning,” Forbes said about the conditions in The Pas. “But I’m sure that will change as the day changes.”
Highway 10 from Bakers Narrows to Highway 39 is closed due to poor visibility caused by the smoke, as is the Sherridon access road at the junction of Highway 10, the province said.
The wildfire has also caused intermittent power outages, with Manitoba Hydro’s outage map showing just under 800 people affected by outages in the area of Cranberry Portage and nearby Bakers Narrows as of Monday.
About 30 more firefighting crew members from Winnipeg and Brandon are on the way to bolster the forces, said an update Monday morning posted by the rural municipality of Kelsey. They are expected in The Pas by Monday evening.
Cranberry Portage firefighters have also put up several sprinklers throughout the community.
Forbes said she speaks regularly with the RCMP and provides their information to evacuees through social media posts and on the RM of Kelsey website.
“It’s very stressful. It’s very emotional. It comes in anger. It comes in sadness,” she said about the emotions of those forced out.
Mental health and some primary health-care workers have been at the reception centre in The Pas periodically during the day for anyone that needs extra support, she said.
The wildfire is not yet threatening Flin Flon but it has impacted the city of about 5,000 people. The telecommunications system has been severed, cutting cellphone service and internet access.
“The odd landline is working, but even they aren’t all working. My landline at home is not working and that used to be our failsafe,” Flin Flon Mayor George Fontaine told CBC Manitoba Radio Noon host Janet Stewart on Monday.
“Were we prepared for this scenario? No, it never occurred to us.”
In the meantime, the city has created a patchwork of communications using the Starlink satellite system to access the internet as much as possible.
The most reliable way for residents to get information at the moment is to listen to the radio, Fontaine said, “because we can’t count on anything else right now.”
“As we’re [being] told right now, we’re in no imminent danger, but you know, we can’t control the winds. We’re going to have to watch and see how this goes and hopefully, hopefully it goes in our favour.”