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 coordinator 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, devouring trees and thousands of hectares of land.
Videos posted by residents to social media sites show the 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 wade 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 is established at the Wescana Inn to register evacuees and to arrange for accommodations.
“It’s absolute terror. But we try to focus on the fact that you’re safe. You’re here.”
The blaze was first detected on Thursday, believed to be started by lightning strikes and 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 covers about 35,000 hectares (86,486 acres) in size, according to the Manitoba wildfire map.
Cranberry Portage is about 585 kilometers 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.”
Strong northerly winds on Sunday pushed the fire 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 immediate 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, according to the province.
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 Portage Cranberry and nearby Bakers Narrows as of Monday.
Forbes said firefighters are doing all they can to control the direction of the fire and keep it from reaching Cranberry Portage “but the weather can change, the winds can change. It’s still very unpredictable.”
About 30 more crew firefighting members from Winnipeg and Brandon are on the way to bolster the forces, according to an update Monday morning posted by the rural municipality of Kelsey. They are expected in The Pas by Monday evening.
The Cranberry Fire Department has also put up several sprinklers throughout the community.
Forbes says she is speaking regularly with the RCMP and providing that information to the 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 workers have been attending the reception centre in The Pas periodically during the day for anyone that needs extra support, she noted.