Manitoba’s prime minister says that his government could use emergency powers to release hotel rooms for people who escaped from forest fires that still explode in the north of the province.
Prime Minister Wab Kinew told reporters on Thursday that the province together with the members of the hotel industry have opened thousands of rooms for the more than 21,000 people who have fled the fires, but that there are still many families sleeping in the levels weeks after the Government declared an emergency state throughout the province.
“We have emergency powers. We have been very restricted in how we are using them and we don’t want to use them,” he said, calling hotels sitting in the rooms to voluntarily open them for the evacuees.
“For those hotels who are not advancing, we need to see more,” he said. “We all know that there are more rooms in which we could be taking advantage.”
The prime minister made the comments after landing in Winnipeg after a trip to the battle line against the largest forest fire that was currently unleashed in the province.
For his last stop, Kinew toured the congregated refuge that was created to welcome those evacuated in Thompson, about 400 kilometers north of Winnipeg while the crow flies.
It is “pulling the headsTrus when we see families with children who have a cradle on a hockey track,” he said.
“There are rooms in Thompson that people could be accessing and I would like to see the ones that open. There are rooms in other parts of the province … We are not talking here always.”
Some leadership of the first nations have been urging the province to free the hotel rooms for evacuated.
Look | The province takes over the safety in the Winnipeg refuge evacuees in the midst of security concerns:
Security concerns have led the Manitoba government to take care of security in a co -ginnipeg shelter for people fleeing the 21 active forest fires in the province. Meanwhile, authorities say that rain and cooler climate have helped fight fires, but the warmer and dry climate is increasing the danger of fire.
Last week, the head of Pimicikamak Cree Nation, David Monias, wrote a letter when calling the government to use emergency measures so that the rooms are available.
Kinew said he has not heard comments from any hotels that decrease the evacuees, but that the province has “many data” about the rooms that are currently occupied.
“I feel safe saying that we know there are more than some in the hotel sector can do,” he said.
Flin Flon ‘as a scene of a movie’: Premier
The Prime Minister began Thursday tour in Bakers Narrows, where firefighters are organizing their response to the fire that threatens the city of Flin Flon and other communities.
The largest fire in the province was 307,780 hectares to the last fire bulletin on Thursday afternoon.
“What really surprises me is that we are in a helicopter there with someone who has been in the Manitoba forest fire service for decades and they say you would have a great fire, you know, once every eight years,” Kinew said.
“Now, it is every year that we are obtaining these mass fires and they are happening before and is later in the year.”
After the bakers narrow, the prime minister entered Flin Flon, where approximately 5,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
The city is about 630 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg.
“If you’ve ever been in Flin Flon, it is a city like many others in Manitoba,” said Kinew, noting that the streets generally occupied are now deserted. “You go there well, now, it’s like a scene outside a movie.”
Kinew said he met firefighters from all over the province in Flin Flon, including volunteers who use their vacation time to help and recently trained firefighters from the first nations. He also said he met people who came from the US. And thanked them for intensifying.
The teams “have kept this huge and massive forest fire at bay. The largest forest fire that we can remember to be at their door, and have done so working together,” he said. “It is surprising to see cooperation to protect such an iconic city.”
Find the latest forest fire information in these sources:
Are you an evacuation that needs help? Contact Manitoba 211 Calling 211 from any place in Manitoba or email 211MB@findhelp.ca.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew obtained an aerial view of northwest Manitoba devastated by forest fires in recent weeks. He also met with those involved in the fire fighting effort around Flin Flon and visited a congregated shelter in Thompson.
