Hundreds of evacuees return home, weeks after being forced out due to wildfire smoke
Vulnerable residents who were evacuated from three First Nations communities in northern Manitoba are returning home, weeks af‐ ter heavy smoke billowing from an out-of-control wildfire forced them out.
The Canadian Red Cross said it is assisting Manto Sipi Cree Nation, Wasagamack First Nation and Red Sucker Lake Anisininew Nation to bring back vulnerable resi‐ dents who were evacuated in late July.
"We're happy they are home now," Manto Sipi Cree Nation Chief Michael Yellow‐ back told CBC News.
"Our elders, our young ones … they are glad to be back," he said. "They really missed home."
A partial evacuation be‐ gan at Manto Sipi Cree Na‐ tion two weeks ago after a heavy cloud of wildfire smoke enveloped the com‐ munity in northeastern Mani‐ toba. The smoke worsened air quality and halted incom‐ ing flights due to poor visibil‐ ity. Health concerns for vul‐ nerable residents with respi‐ ratory problems forced the evacuation of over 200 peo‐ ple from the Manto Sipi Cree Nation to Brandon and Win‐ nipeg.
Yellowback said the wild‐ fire smoke started receding last week amidst a shift in the winds and steady precipi‐ tation since the long weekend in August - clearing the air enough to start bring‐ ing evacuees back over the weekend.
Residents flew back nearly 700 kilometres to Manto Sipi Cree Nation from Brandon on Saturday. Return flights continued on Sunday from Winnipeg. Yellowback said at least 275 evacuees returned to the community between the two days.
Fewer than 20 residents, who are still out of the com‐ munity, will return in the last flights slated for Wednesday, Yellowback said.
"There's still smoke here, but not as thick as we previ‐ ously experienced," he said. "We're expecting rain as well in the next couple of days … we expect [it] will address that forest fire."
The wildfire south of Gods Lake, which forced thou‐ sands to evacuate from a to‐ tal of five First Nations com‐ munities, is still burning out of control. Over the last week, data from the province shows the blaze has grown by roughly 5,000 hectares, stretching to just over 35,000 hectares on Sunday.
'A blessing': Wasaga‐ mack evacuees come back
More than 1,000 vulnerable residents from Wasagamack First Nation, Red Sucker Anisininew Nation and God's Lake First Nations and St. Theresa Point First Nation were forced out due to the wildfire smoke in a string of evacuations that began in late July until the first week of August.
Evacuations have since been halted, and the Canadi‐ an Red Cross said all evacu‐ ated residents from St. Theresa Point First Nation and God's Lake First Nation have returned home.
Wasagamack First Nation Chief Walter Harper told CBC
News Tuesday that nearly half of the evacuated resi‐ dents have returned home.
The wildfire smoke forced the partial evacuation of the Wasagamack First Nation on July 27. With air quality wors‐ ening, at least 800 vulnerable residents were sent more than 450 kilometres south‐ west of Winnipeg.
"We have some people that are monitoring the fire, taking a helicopter ride and just checking to see if there was a threat or being a dan‐ ger to our community," Harp‐ er said.
"They haven't seen much fire activity lately," he said, adding that prompted the band council to start working with the Red Cross to bring evacuees during the weekend and Monday.
As evacuees returned, smoke billowing from the
wildfire rolled back to the community. But Harper said with constant shifts in the winds, the smoke comes and goes from the community, no longer posing a "threat or danger" to vulnerable resi‐ dents.
The chief said roughly 250 residents have since re‐ turned home, and hundreds more are expected to be back this week.
"It was a blessing to hear that our elders are coming back. I'm just glad that every‐ body is OK," he said. "Hope‐ fully, we're going to get every‐ one back here within two days."
But just as when evacua‐ tions began, the chief said bringing residents back has been challenging. Wasaga‐ mack First Nation is inacces‐ sible by roads, and without a local airport, evacuees had to fly from Winnipeg to Saint Mary's Island in St. Theresa's Point First Nation. Evacuees, many of them using wheel‐ chairs, then boarded boats riding back to the commu‐ nity, a concern for Harper.
"We are very grateful the weather's been good, but if it was really rough and windy, we would have a very big challenge even for these el‐ ders that are going across on the boat," he said. "It gets re‐ ally, really difficult."
Marcel Colomb evac‐ uees not returning home yet
Manitoba wildfire service continues battling 63 active fires, 13 of them burning out of control by Tuesday, the province said.
One of those wildfires, east of Lynn Lake, forced the full evacuation of Marcel Colomb First Nation almost three weeks ago. According to the province, the blaze hasn't grown since it tripled in size last week, sitting at just over 3,500 hectares.
The threat of the wildfire continues and with it evacu‐ ated residents from Marcel Colomb First Nation remain out of the northeastern Man‐ itoba community, the Canadi‐ an Red Cross said Tuesday.