Premier Wab Kinew is set to tour areas near an out-of-control wildfire in northwestern Manitoba on Tuesday.
He’s scheduled to arrive late in the morning or early afternoon and visit Flin Flon, Bakers Narrows and The Pas.
The fire just north of Cranberry Portage and east of Flin Flon is believed to have been started by lightning strikes and was first detected on Thursday.
It grew rapidly on the weekend, fuelled by high winds and extremely dry conditions, and forced the evacuation of the entire community of Cranberry Portage.
At last word from the province on Monday, the fire is about 35,000 hectares in size (or 31,500 hectares when subtracting the area taken up by bodies of water) and about 1.5 kilometres from Cranberry Portage.
Earl Simmons, director of the Manitoba Wildfire Service, said on Monday that in his 40 years of experience, he’s never seen a fire move as quickly as this one did on the weekend.
The extent of the blaze can be viewed on the provincial government’s interactive fire map.
Although $50 million has been set aside in this year’s provincial budget for emergency management, “whatever sum is required to fight these fires is going to go out the door,” Kinew said on Monday in the legislature.
Brian Amiro, acting department head and professor emeritus in the department of soil science at the University of Manitoba, said having such wildfires in spring is particularly troublesome.
“Across the boreal forest and especially in Western Canada, we can get spring fires that are very vigorous. What happens basically is after that snow melts we have dry fuel — dry grass that hasn’t greened up yet. And if that gets ignited, then we see that that fire can spread very quickly,” he told CBC Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Tuesday.
“In the middle of the summer … trees can hold some moisture in and that helps fire not to move quite so quickly. But at the moment, in the spring, there’s no canopy up there. The sunlight is shining through, it’s drying out that surface fuel, and wind can get in there a little more easily.”
The wildfire is not yet threatening Flin Flon, but the telecommunications system has been severed, cutting cellphone service and internet access. The city has created a patchwork of communications using the Starlink satellite system to access the internet as much as possible.
There was significant damage to eight kilometres of fibre, an email from a Bell MTS spokesperson said Tuesday.
“Our crews have been working around the clock. We expect to have all services restored later today.”
The fire has also caused intermittent power outages, according to Manitoba Hydro’s outage map.
Highway 10, which links Cranberry Portage to Flin Flon, has been blocked by RCMP. They say the wildfire smoke is too thick to allow people to drive through the area on their own.
Instead, they’re having vehicles line up and then escorting them northwest in a convoy, straight through to Flin Flon, about 40 kilometres away. Once the convoy reaches Flin Flon, RCMP will turn around and escort a convoy southeast.
People and businesses in The Pas — where hundreds of the evacuees have gone — have stepped up to help those who are displaced.
Rebecca Johnson, who grew up in The Pas, started an effort that helped feed around 350-400 people on Sunday through a community barbecue. The volunteers also provided coffee and tea to The Pas Fire Department.
“A big thank you to those who are out fighting the fire on the front lines right now,” Johnson posted on her Facebook page.
A second barbecue on Monday served another 250 people, with food also going to the city’s homeless shelter.
“This all began with a group of local volunteers wanting to support those going through a time of uncertainty,” Johnson’s Facebook post said.
Speaking to Markusa on Tuesday, Johnson said “there’s no stopping us now. We are doing like a lunch-slash-supper today.”
Businesses have donated products while volunteers have flooded in to respond to the efforts.
“I’ve had a crazy amount of people reach out … asking how they can help, how they can support,” she said.
The request for donated items has expanded beyond food to now include blankets, clothing, toothbrushes and other essentials people might have left behind in the time of panic when packing to get out of Cranberry Portage.
“Really, we are open to anything.”
The library has started a play group, while the Kelsey Recreation and Wellness Centre has opened up for use, allowing kids to exert some of their energy and meet others.
“I just love my little town, because we never allow each other to go without or to suffer alone. We’re always there for each other — it’s just zero hesitation when we get together to help one another,” Johnson said.
Information for evacuees is also being provided on the rural municipality of Kelsey website.