As more Manitobans who fled their homes due to wildfire get the news they can go home, the province is being cautious about the overall situation. On Monday afternoon, government officials said recent rain has helped in some areas, but it’s been varied. “We are going to see fire activity pick up in the days ahead as those areas dry out,” said Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister of the Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service. Even though some communities are making the decision to bring people home, Hayward reiterated the situation could change as the weather conditions change. “These are very large fires, and they are not extinguished. They are not out and won’t be for some time,” she said. “We are cautiously optimistic.” Monday’s update stated there are 18 active fires in Manitoba and seven are considered out of control. There were also a few new fires started over the last 24 hours, but Hayward said none of those are of concern now. She added there was a band of lightning that went through the province in the last day as well and more starts are expected because of that. Priority fires still burning The largest fire burning in the province is the one near Flin Flon and Sherridon. It is now mapped at more than 370,000 hectares. Hayward said there also wasn’t much rain in that area over the weekend and the fire’s behaviour is expected to pick up as early as Tuesday. “We’re working with doing some scans with drones and aircraft to understand where the hottest areas are so that we can prioritize our efforts to get that under control,” she said. The fire near Lynne Lake is still estimated to be 72,000 hectares in size. Over the weekend, that fire primarily burned on the north side, away from the community, which is on the south side. The fire burning near Pimicikamak Cree Nation is over 64,000 ha. This area got a significant amount of rain over the weekend, which really helped. The Tataskweyak Cree Nation fire is now mapped at 25,000 ha after some more activity over the weekend on the north side. The province said it is making good progress on the Bird River/Nopaming fire, which is mapped at 218,000 ha. The wildfire in the Wanless area is now considered under control. More evacuees headed home Christine Stevens, the assistant deputy minister for the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization, said over the last day, there are still two dozen local states of emergency, and 25 communities are still evacuated. There haven’t been any new evacuations in the past 24 hours. As of Monday morning, there were 22,000 evacuees who had registered with the Red Cross. About 1,800 people were able to return home on Saturday in the communities of Cranberry Portage, Sherridon, Snow Lake, Herb Lake Landing, Payuk Lake, and Twin Lake. On Sunday, Misipawistik Cree Nation and St. Theresa Point started bringing back priority one evacuees. On Monday, Grass River Provincial Park and Pimicikamak Cree Nation started the process to bring people back. Stevens noted Pimicikamak accounts for 7,000 people and the return home is expected to take time, potentially up to a week. Wasagamack First Nation is also expected to start to welcome people home Monday. Stevens said Tuesday, Wekusko Provincial Park and Bisset are expected to welcome back evacuees.
