Residents of Marcel Colomb First Nation in northern Manitoba remained displaced from their homes Wednesday as firefighters worked to get the upper hand on two uncontrolled fires nearby.
Many of the 260 evacuees, from the community 800 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, have been staying at Winnipeg hotels for the past two weeks, since evacuations began July 23. Others have been put up in Thompson, The Pas and Lynn Lake.
The largest of the two fires remained just four kilometres east of the First Nation this week.
It has more than tripled in size to over 3,000 hectares in the 15 days it has been burning, but hasn’t grown for the past week.
“Seventy per cent of that fire is contained,” Manitoba wildfire service director Earl Simmons told the Free Press Wednesday.
Firefighters from Minnesota and Wisconsin have arrived to help bring the blaze under control.
“We feel completely comfortable that the fire is not going to escape the perimeter of the fire,” Simmons added.
Sprinkler kits were earlier placed on 30 buildings in Marcel Colomb to protect them from being destroyed should the fire spread.
“If they can work at least two hours before the fire gets near a community, you got a good chance of saving all the structures by soaking everything down,” Simmons explained.
Another fire burning through 2,000 hectares of land just to the north has been uncontrolled for the past 18 days, but presents a lesser threat, Simmons said.
“There’s some potential for that fire to come down towards Marcel Colomb,” Simmons said, adding both fires will need to be controlled before residents return.
Lighting was deemed to be the cause of both fires.
Red Cross spokesperson Jason Small said the disaster relief agency has been supporting evacuees with everything from daily meals to hygiene kits.
Small doesn’t know when residents will return, but said the Red Cross will be ready to arrange transportation when the time comes.
In the northeast, around 1,650 people from the First Nations communities of Wasagamack, St. Theresa Point, Manto Sipi and Red Sucker Lake have been evacuated to Winnipeg and Brandon, largely because of air quality concerns.
On Aug. 3, a state of emergency was declared in Red Sucker Lake Anisininew Nation after power was knocked out by a 3,000-hectare wildfire burning west of the community, around 700 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
The Red Cross got 30 generators to the community, and the federal government sent an emergency payment to the community.
Simmons said three wooden poles supporting a hydro line were charred, but firefighters were able to protect the line itself.
Power was restored around 24 hours later.
Previously, some residents from God’s Lake First Nation were evacuated, however Small said they had all returned to the community as of Monday.
Small was unaware of any other First Nations communities being threatened by fire, but said “that can change very quickly because of the speed of wildfires.”
The provincial wildfire update said the province has had 216 wildfires to date. The province’s 20-year average is 300 annual wildfires. As of Tuesday, there were 75 active wildfires.
Simmons said the wildfire service has been “extremely busy” over the past two weeks, but looks forward to better weather conditions to help efforts on the ground.
jordan.snobelen@freepress.mb.ca
Jordan Snobelen
Reporter
Jordan Snobelen is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. He spent four years reporting for community newspapers in Ontario before joining the Free Press’s city desk in 2024. Read more about Jordan.
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