Manitoba to lift travel, fire restrictions Friday

Starting Friday, all provincial fire and travel bans in place due to the wildfire situation will come to an end.

Progress is being made on multiple fires throughout Manitoba as rain has been dousing some of the flames.

Officials provided an update Thursday saying Flin Flon, The Pas, Nopiming and Lynn Lake have all either received rain or rain is in the forecast, which is helping with the fire fight.

This is also leading to the decision to lift the travel and burn restriction in the province, starting Friday at 8 a.m.

The only exception is backcountry travel will still not be allowed in the boundaries of an active fire.

“If folks are wondering if they are able to have a fire or travel in the backcountry in their area, they should definitely check with their local municipality and be aware of where the fire boundaries are,” said Kristin Hayward, the assistant deputy minister with the Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service.

Hayward said there are currently 18 fires burning in Manitoba, six of which are considered out of control. There have 131 fires so far in 2025.

“In terms of the fires of primary concern, those are all the ones near communities that we have been reporting on. I’m happy to report a lot of those are stable. We have not experienced significant growth on a lot of those fires.”

There are still 13 states of local emergency and four communities are still evacuated. A number of people have been able to return home in recent days, including residents of Flin Flon who went back on Wednesday.

However, there are approximately 6,500 Manitobans who are not allowed to return home yet.