Wildfire Season Returns to Canada, Forcing Provinces into State of Emergency
Government of Manitoba / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Canadian province of Manitoba on Wednesday declared a state of emergency over fast-growing wildfires. Saskatchewan followed suit on Thursday, and Alberta is shutting down some of its oil production facilities.
Emergency officials urged thousands of local residents to evacuate as the fires spread through central and west Canada.
“This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory,” said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew on Wednesday.
At least 17,000 evacuation notices have been issued, rivaling the 25,000 evacuations during the massive Red River Valley flood of 1997. The communities of Flin Flon and Cross Lake were told to evacuate, along with the Cree Nation communities of Pimicikamak and Pukatawagan. The evacuees will be sheltered at community centers and arenas in Winnipeg.
Kinew said he requested, and received, assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces, which is contributing aircraft to the evacuation effort.
“The premier and I are in close contact, and the federal government stands ready to assist Manibota’s provincial wildfire teams,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
Flin Flon Mayor George Fontaine said on Friday the situation in his town was desperate, as himself and the last few remaining evacuation holdouts were told to flee before the wind turned against them.
“We’ve seen devastation across the country in different communities where this has happened, and there’s a very, very high potential that it’s going to happen here,” Fontaine said.
“The prognosis that we’re hearing is that the winds are going to change and turn that fire back towards our community, and it could be very catastrophic if that happens. It’s got a straight path into here,” he said.
Fontaine said there was no way to hold the fire at bay because there is “no equipment left.” Emergency officials said the leading edge of the wildfires was less than a quarter of a mile from the edge of Flin Flon as of Friday morning.
Wildfires are also burning in Alberta province, forcing temporary shutdowns of oil and gas production facilities. Some small communities in Alberta have been evacuated, while others were placed on one-hour evacuation notices.
Saskatchewan declared a state of emergency on Thursday as 14 distinct wildfires burned out of control.
“The conditions that our northern residents, communities and wildland firefighters are facing today are as severe or quite likely unlike anything we have faced in quite some time, if not ever,” said Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.
Smoke from the Canadian wildfires began wafting across the border into the U.S. Northern Plains and Midwest on Friday, prompting the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota to issue air quality alerts. The alerts in Wisconsin and Michigan are scheduled to last through Saturday, while the one in Minnesota will remain in effect through Monday.
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