Thousands of households were forced to evacuate their house on Thursday in Manitoba, in response to the state of emergency declared by the provincial government due to massive forest fires which ravaged the east of the province.
“There are a lot of worried people here, which is completely understandable,” writes Hilda Rose Fitzner, a resident of Thompson, one of the many cities of the manitoba struck by the state of emergency, in a Facebook publication accompanied by a video where you can see a thick sail of orange smoke covering the municipality.
For some households, this is the second time that a state of emergency force forces them to leave their homes. But the Prime Minister of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, assured Thursday that these evacuations are essential in order to mobilize resources.
“We are going to ask Manitobans to help us in several ways,” he said in a press briefing. We would like to highlight the severity of this season of forest fires. »»
Other images circulating on social networks show imposing plumes of smoke over Manitoban forests, where tanker planes try to contain the flames. Several show the orange sky which covers the regions affected by the lights.
“An incredible quantity of smoke in the air and the ash that falls from the sky,” wrote Jan Thiessen, who spent the night from Wednesday to Thursday in Thompson, on Facebook.
Mr. Kinew’s declaration arrives that the first nation of Garden Hill, a community of more than 3000 inhabitants accessible only by plane, gave order to its residents to leave the region because of an untamed fire.
Photo taken from Ernie McDougall’s Facebook profile
Ernie McDougall, a resident of Garden Hill, an indigenous community targeted by the state of emergency, captured the sky saturated with smoke on Wednesday evening.
The army was dispatched aboard Hercules military planes to facilitate the evacuation of the community, located almost 500 kilometers from Winnipeg, Wab Kinew said.
Thousands of evacuated
A total of approximately 12,600 people evacuated their residence through Manitoba. There were 105 active fires on Thursday, according to the province.
The city of Snow Lake, located 600 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg, has also published a compulsory evacuation order for its 1000 inhabitants. This is the second time this season that we have been asked to leave.
The mayor of the small municipality, Ron Scott, said he was frustrated to have to leave again. “We expected it to be a long, painful summer with very dry and windy conditions,” he said to the Canadian press. There are fires everywhere. »»
An important fire rages less than 16 kilometers from the city, and the flames are approaching thanks to the wind, according to Mr. Scott, which ensures that the residents evacuate in order.
The city of Snow Lake, however, warned that the evacuates needing shelter would be accommodated in a soccer complex on camp beds, “because there are no more hotel rooms available in Winnipeg”, can be read in a publication on social networks.
Kinew retorts Republican elected officials
Canadian forest fire smoke diffuses west and south. Six elected Republicans also wrote to the Canada Ambassador to the United States this week, to ask the country to better control smoke.
Wab Kinew replied to them, during his press conference on Thursday. “I shakes the hand of American firefighters north of the Manitoba that help us, and I would put these ambulance hunters in the US Congress to do the same,” he said.
“This is what diverts people from politics, it is when there is a group of members of the congress who try to trivialize and enjoy a season of forest fires, when we have lost lives in our province. »»
History is repeated
First forest fires broke out in May in Manitoba, asking for the evacuation of 22,000 residents, including all the inhabitants of Flin Flon, a city near the border with Saskatchewan, and thousands of people from the Cree of Pimicikamak, north of the province. Two people lost their lives in fires.
Massive trips have experienced the resources of the province, which asked hotels to release as many rooms as possible and established collective shelters in public spaces. The government has also suggested that tourists rethink their travels while fires rage.
Thousands of people were finally able to go home in the following weeks, thanks to weather conditions and firefighters who managed to master the flames. But the fires, encouraged by lightning, resumed more beautiful last week.
With the Canadian press
