Precipitation that’s in the forecast early this week could help crews fighting wildfires that have been threatening a northern Manitoba city after smoke that’s blanketed much of the Prairies over the weekend kept some firefighting aircraft grounded and forced the cancellation of a number of weekend events.
In an update posted to social media on Sunday, the City of Thompson said rain was forecast for the area on Monday as the community continues to advise residents to be ready to flee at short notice due to several fires.
But the battle against the flames was hampered on Saturday, the post said, because intense smoke meant that aerial crews were unable to do suppression work with helicopters and water bombers. The smoke also meant crews weren’t able to be deployed by helicopters, it noted.
The post said the smoke cleared some Sunday, and that crews would attempt to fly to the fire’s eastern flank and “start wrapping that edge.”
Warm and dry weather over the weekend didn’t help, either.
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“With the warm weather and lack of recent moisture, all of the fires in the region are showing more activity than in previous days,” the post from the city noted.
Environment Canada Air issued air-quality warnings on Friday for parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan that lasted through the weekend.
Smoke also prevented sonar imaging of land burned by a fire that has kept people out of Tataskweyak Cree Nation, according to an update posted Saturday by the community’s chief, Doreen Spence.
Further south in Gimli, Man., the final day of racing at the Sail West Regional Championships on Lake Winnipeg was cancelled on Sunday due to the presence of wildfire smoke.
“There was enough visibility to go sailing but it would have been unwise,” Sail Manitoba president Eric Turner explained.
“We determined it was a risk to everyone’s health.”
There were 122 active wildfires burning across Manitoba as of Friday, with Saskatchewan reporting 51 active wildfires.
Spence acknowledged during her online update the frustration her community’s evacuees have been experiencing due to the shortage of hotel space, noting some hotels don’t want evacuees as guests.
The province has fielded complaints and calls from evacuees and various First Nations organizations to free up more hotel spaces, after elders and families were forced to stay in shelters and some were flown to hotels in Ontario.
“When you’re in hotels, you have to follow rules in there. You’ve got to keep your room clean, you know, no drinking, whatever. I’m not saying everybody does that,” Spence said.
“You’ve got to keep you kids quiet,” she continued. “I understand that some families have children with autism and they need to be placed elsewhere. And we are trying to work on securing more apartments for you guys.”
A Manitoba government spokesperson said last week that as of Wednesday night, there were about 7,000 evacuees in hotel rooms and about 1,200 in shelters.
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