Snow Lake put on evacuation alert as northwestern Manitoba wildfire threatens town

The rapid growth of a massive forest fire in the northwest of Manitoba has put another threatened community alert.

The city of Snow Lake declared a local state of emergency on Tuesday and implemented an evacuation alert as a caution, giving people the opportunity to obtain great belongings before more restrictions are activated.

“It is still about 20 kilometers away, but according to the tips of [Manitoba] Conservation: They were actually quite surprised by the speed that these fires moved. We decided to issue a 48 -hour voluntary evacuation, “said Snow Lake Mayor Ron Scott, Wednesday morning.

“The situation is evolving quite fast and we can end up having to issue a mandatory evacuation order. Now that has not yet happened, but we want to give so many people the option to leave the city with any large article as soon as possible.”

Snow Lake is about 120 kilometers directly east of Flin Flon but “due to the West and Northwest winds, [the fire] It has been pushed quite fast towards our area, “wrapping the sky with smoke that makes the air thick and discolored, Scott said.

“The air is very, very smelly of smoke, but the visibility is still quite good this morning. It’s only time by time at this time.”

During the first 24 hours of the evacuation alert, the people who chose to leave were allowed to take extraction equipment, such as trailers, boats and campists.

Once the last 24 hours of the alert began on Wednesday morning, that type of team was prohibited due to the limited capacity on the roads, said Scott.

There is no immediate threat to public safety, but all must be prepared in case the conditions change and a mandatory evacuation is necessary, says a warning of the city issued on Tuesday with the alert.

“Make sure the essential items are packed, the vehicles feed and the plans are in their place,” he says.

Flin Flon, meanwhile, is struggling to feed his firefighters, Mayor George Fontaine said Wednesday.

“They have been attacking grocery stores … and they are within a couple of days of not being able to have enough food to provide all these men,” said Fontaine in CBC Manitoba’s Information radio.

A personal 200-250 is fighting the fire, which has almost surrounded the city but has not yet violated it, he said.

In addition to running out of supplies, the crew that works to feed firefighters is small and is not trained for work, although they are doing everything possible, said Fontaine.

“They are flooded, they are overloaded with work and there are not many of them,” he said. “We need a specialized team there to do this, and we also need more food.”

The province is aware of the problem and, hopefully, can do something to help, he said.

“I give you all the credit for everything they are trying to do.”

‘Everything depends on the way the wind blows’: Flin flon greater

A spokesman for the province said there are no significant problems with food preparation or supply for emergency responders and that the fire commissioner’s office has a logistics system to provide them.

The fire near Flin Flon has almost 38,000 hectares of size and remains out of control, according to the Bulletin of Fire in Wednesday of the province. A mandatory evacuation order continues for that city, as well as Big Island Lake, Schist Lake, the small area of ​​Athapapuskow Cottage and Bakers.

The fire is directly on the western edge of Creighton, Sask., That contracts against Flin Flon, which is partly in Saskatchewan.

“And then he is in danger of approaching on several other sides, because everything depends on the way the wind blows,” said Fontaine.

The equipment has also been deployed to protect the airport and other structures in Narrows Bakers.

Buildings have not been lost in the city of Flin Flon, and the airport is still safe and operational for emergency aircraft, says a message on the Facebook page of the city of Flin Flon, where regular updates are published.

Although structures have not been lost within Flin Flon or Creighton, Fontaine said he has heard of some destroyed outside the urban centers.

However, he cannot confirm anything.

“We do not have the ability to look at individual properties and give up to that,” he said.

Flin Flon Fire joined at the beginning of this week with one near Sherridon, which was in itself more than 112,000 hectares of size until Wednesday. Now they are close to linking with fire near Pukatawagan (Mathias Colomb Cree Nation), which is 9,785 hectares.

A finger of the fused fires is reaching the east towards Lake Kotowich, about 30 kilometers north of Lake Snow.

“[The voluntary evacuation] He is giving people the opportunity to move now, and then, if we have to move on to a mandatory evacuation, then there are fewer people in the city to worry about, “said Scott, who believes that” several hundred “took the opportunity.

The city has around 1,100 permanent residents, but there is also a camp that houses 400-450 employees of the Hudbay Minerals mine.

2nd evacuation for some

Snow Lake has also been organizing enough families that were evacuated from Flin Flon, said Scott, who estimated that there were around 1,700 people in the city before the evacuation alert was issued.

“It is a strange situation. I had never seen a fire season like this before,” he said about people like Flin Flon who have to evacuate one place and then another.

The Hudbay mine sent a press release on Wednesday saying that it has suspended operations in Snow Lake and that only essential personnel, authorized by emergency services, are staying behind to help with emergency activities.

According to Scott, many of the employees have spent time establishing sprinklers and other water systems in the anticipation of the fire that is approaching.

Are you an evacuation that needs help? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from any place in Manitoba or send an email to 211mb@findhelp.ca.

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