Hundreds of people have been expelled from a cabin field strip in eastern Manitoba, since a forest fire out of control near Lac Du Bonnet grew rapidly in the intensity until the afternoon and night on Tuesday.
“Yesterday was a very dark day for our region here, certainly,” said Loren Schinkel, Reeve, in the rural municipality of Lac Du Bonnet, on Wednesday morning.
“Last night, we extended the evacuation order for the seventh time due to the situation in which the wind changed. I would estimate that there are 800 to 1,000 people who have been displaced from their residences from last night.”
The coldest temperatures have moved to the province, but “we are not yet out of the forest here, so to speak, because the fire is still burning”, and there is concern about the new winds, which now come from the north instead of the south, they will push the flames through the 313 highway, he told CBC Manitoba Information radio Host Markusa.
“I have to congratulate all the people who were in the first line trying to save properties throughout the night. The RCMP was certainly out there protecting life and/or property, and our frontline teams were also trying to save properties,” said Schinkel.
There are no injury reports, but there has been a “significant loss of structures” around the Wendigo Beach area, he said.
“We are not still sure of the amount of damage to those areas, but that evaluation will be a process that is ongoing today,” he said.
“He burned so fast yesterday. The fire was jumping. It was a difficult day.”
Updates on the fire will be published on the website of the Rural Municipality of the Lac Du Bonnet.
John Fleming, Emergency Coordinator for the RM of Lac Du Bonnet, published a message on the Facebook page of the organization on Wednesday morning, saying that an evaluation of the properties affected by the fire will be carried out immediately to update everyone on the state of its properties.
“I ask for your patience, since this is a great company and we want to be precise with our information exchange,” he wrote.
Electricity has been interrupted, with burned hydroelectric posts and cables in the soil in some areas. That has to solve before someone can return.
The RCMP has sent additional officials to the Lac Du Bonnet region to help with evacuations, the evacuation areas of the patrol and provide other support required by local authorities, said the Mounties in a press release on Tuesday night.
That includes a team of 12 highly trained officers of the Search and Rescue Unit, according to the statement.
They have established obstacles along multiple points of the 313 highway, and only emergency personnel are allowed to pass.
Evacuation orders for the RM of Lac Du Bonnet include:
- All subdivisions south of the 313 highway in Urban Road, Belluk Road, Lee Dale Estates and Bonnet Oaks South.
- Wendigo Road and adjacent subdivisions from highway 313 to the point of Grausdin.
- Highway 433 and the Cape Coppermine road from Lagsdin Way to, and including, Cape Coppermine and all adjacent subdivisions.
- Highway 433 from Lagsdin Way to Highway 313.
- North and west of the 313 highway, from highway 433 to the RM of Alexander.
Evacuates must inform the LAC Du Bonnet Community Hall in McCarthur Avenue in the city of Lac Du Bonnet to register. Anyone who has left the area without register must call 204-345–2860 to register.
The fire has not yet been added to the online fire map of the province, which shows another 22 fires in the province, including another near the Fire Du Bonnet that has caused evacuation orders and local emergency states around Nopiming, Wallace Lake, South Atikaki and provincial parks of the Manigotagan River.
Evacuations have also been ordered in the Provincial Park of Whitashell in response to a forest fire out of control along the Ontario border.
On Tuesday, a mandatory evacuation was also ordered in the Painte du Bois area.
Stephan Bouderlique was on the way to Birds Hill on Tuesday, north of Winnipeg, when he discovered his house in the corner of roads 313 and 315 he was in an evacuation zone.
“We couldn’t come back, so everything I had was my clothes on my back [and] My bicycle, and my wife had gone to an appointment in [Winnipeg]So she also has anything, “he said.
The couple now stays in a hotel in Sekirk and keeps the tabs at home through security cameras that have established around the property.
“Everything is fine, the power is still on. We will see about the winds today, but there is a bit of concern about the speed with which it is going to track,” Bouderlique said.
“The only thing I have for me is that … the nearest tree line is about 100 meters away, but Mother Nature is going to do what Mother Nature is going to do. I think that is the price you pay for living in paradise.”
The couple has owned Lagofront’s property since 2005 and has never experienced a threat like this.
“My biggest concern was Fire or Tornado, but that’s all. And well, the fire has come true. So we will see how Bauderlique said.
