The largest active wildfire in Manitoba is forcing all people in a northwestern town out of the community Friday, including two Manitobans who are now escaping the blaze for a fourth time.
A mandatory evacuation order is in effect for the town of Snow Lake, three days after the community about 590 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg declared a local state of emergency.
Anyone still there must be out before noon Saturday, the Town of Snow Lake said in a social media post Friday.
The wildfire threatening Snow Lake was kilometres away earlier this week, but west and northwest winds pushed it toward the town, choking the air with heavy smoke, Mayor Ron Scott told CBC News on Wednesday.
Linda Smith and Tom Allen, who are from Flin Flon, were staying at a camper in Snow Lake and are now among those leaving the town. This is the fourth time they’ve been under a mandatory evacuation order in just over a week.
WATCH | Evacuees forced out of community because of wildfire for 4th time:
Linda Smith and Tom Allen are evacuating for the fourth time since wildfires in Manitoba began to force people from their homes. On Friday, the Flin Flon residents were told they’d have to leave Snow Lake.
After leaving Flin Flon, they set up a tent at a neighbour’s cabin in Bakers Narrows, said Smith.
“Day and a half later, we got evacuated from there and we went to Wekusko Falls,” she said. “Then we got evacuated Tuesday.”
Smith said she and Allen will now be heading for The Pas.
“It’s been hell,” Smith said. “It’s horrible. Like, you don’t know the end in sight.”
The blaze threatening Snow Lake is now the largest wildfire in Manitoba, after what were originally separate fires around Sherridon and Flin Flon merged.
Several communities have been put under mandatory evacuation orders because of the fire. The most recent provincial fire bulletin said a two-hour evacuation notice has also now been put in place for Rocky Lake East and Rocky Lake North.
The blaze was about 307,800 hectares in size as of the fire bulletin Friday afternoon.
‘Stressful’ waiting game
Snow Lake implemented a voluntary evacuation on Tuesday, giving people a chance to leave before further restrictions kicked in. Some residents had already left before the evacuation became mandatory.
Cheryl and Nelson Linklater, along with their three children, were waiting on a bus to get out of the community Friday.
The couple said they’ve barely left their home since the local state of emergency was declared.
WATCH | Snow Lake residents set to leave town days after local state of emergency issued:
Cheryl and Nelson Linklater prepared Friday to leave their hometown of Snow Lake, Man., after days of warnings that residents may need to leave. The parents of three children, aged 14, 10 and three, fear losing their home and having to start all over for their kids.
“It’s stressful, like, the waiting game especially,” Cheryl Linklater said.
“The voluntary evacuation — there’s a lot of people that left and we were stuck here. I didn’t go to work, kids [have] been out of school. We [were] stuck inside because it’s too smoky to go anywhere.”
Last week, thousands of people were evacuated from Flin Flon, about 120 kilometres west of Snow Lake.
The City of Flin Flon said in a social media post Friday morning no structures there have been lost in the fire, though winds bowing from the south are drifting heavy smoke and spreading the flames.
Property protection measures, including sprinklers, have been set up and the city will continue working in the Channing area, the post said
Find the latest wildfire information:
Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email [email protected].
The northern Manitoba town is the latest in a string of communities that have been evacuated because of wildfires. More than 18,000 people in the province are now out of their homes.
