Cranberry Portage residents who fled their homes amid an ongoing wildfire in northwestern Manitoba returned to the community Sunday.
“Everybody is going home to their house, so that was our goal and we reached that,” said Lori Forbes, emergency co-ordinator for the Rural Municipality of Kelsey.
“We have had some reports from folks that are already in the community and they are just really pleased.”
NEENA LUNDIE PHOTO
Residents forced to evacuate their homes due to wildfires near Cranberry Portage were permitted to go back to the community Sunday morning.
Large swaths of land near Cranberry Portage have been burning since May 9, prompting an evacuation orders which forced more than 500 people out of the community and nearly 700 in total from the region.
The evacuated areas included Cranberry Portage, located about 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, and nearby cottage subdivisions of Sourdough Bay, Whitefish Lake, Twin Lakes and Schist Lake North.
The evacuation orders, which came into effect May 12, were lifted Sunday at 10 a.m.
Provincial emergency social services remain available to residents, and evacuee reception centres at the Victoria Inn in Flin Flon and the Wescana Inn in The Pas stayed open throughout the weekend.
“We are not seeing too many heads in here this morning and that’s a good sign. That’s telling me everybody is on their way home or already home,” Forbes said, speaking by phone from the Wescana Inn, located roughly 85 kilometres north of Cranberry Portage.
“I couldn’t be (feeling) any better, I’m telling you.”
The RM of Kelsey hosted a breakfast for returning evacuees at the Wescana Inn, treating them to coffee, muffins and bannock. The RM provided a bus to aid in transporting displaced residents back to their homes.
“It’s a small community, so we didn’t have a whole lot (of people) to take back, but they were on their way back by 10:15 a.m.,” Forbes said, explaining that most residents were able to arrange for their own transportation home.
While many evacuees remained in The Pas and Flin Flon, others went to stay with family and friends in Saskatchewan and Alberta, she said.
Forbes credited The Pas, Flin Flon and the RM of Kelsey for stepping up in the face of the emergency.
“These communities did as much as they could to support this effort and so we thank them for that and now we just need to move forward and get back to living.”
The latest fire update, released on the province’s wildfire map Saturday, lists the blaze as out of control and says it continues to cover about 37,000 hectares of land.
In a news release Friday, the province said the fireline near Cranberry Portage is under control, thanks to favourable weather and work by fire crews.
The province deployed six water bombers, seven helicopters and more than 200 provincial personnel to combat the blaze. Additional firefighters were sourced inter-provincially, including 40 from Ontario, 20 from New Brunswick, 21 from Quebec and five from Parks Canada.
“A small number of properties have been damaged by fire but impacted residents are being notified prior to the area reopening,” the province said.
Campgrounds in Bakers Narrows and Grass River provincial parks remain closed until at least May 27.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’ city desk. Since joining the paper in 2022, he has found himself driving through blizzards, documenting protests and scouring the undersides of bridges for potential stories.
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