Thousands head home in Flin Flon, Man., after wildfires forced them out

WINNIPEG – Buses carrying residents from the northern city of Flin Flon were being loaded up Wednesday morning, preparing to bring them back after a menacing wildfire forced thousands to flee weeks earlier.

“Welcome home to everyone,” Deputy Mayor Alison Dallas-Funk said in a Facebook video Wednesday morning.

“Can’t wait to have you back in community.”

Buses began leaving Winnipeg and Brandon before 10 a.m., a schedule posted online showed. Residents staying elsewhere could expect to leave for Flin Flon later Wednesday, while some travelled back on their own. 

The town has set up a supply centre that will be open for the rest of the week. Residents will have access to mental health services, hygiene and cleaning kits, food items and masks to help cope with the wildfire smoke. 

“This is going to be a long summer, so please come down,” Dallas-Funk said from the centre. Pallets of food items could be seen in the background. 

The nearby wildfire is still burning, but officials said crews have been able to contain it to outside the community, which sits near the Saskatchewan boundary.

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About 5,000 Flin Flon residents, as well as roughly 1,000 from the city’s surrounding area, were displaced to temporary lodgings across Manitoba due to nearby blazes.

Mayor George Fontaine has said the city hasn’t lost homes or businesses to fire, and residents are to start cleaning up things like spoiled food in fridges and freezers as they return. They have been told to have an emergency bag packed in case the fire re-enters the community.

Another northern community whose residents have already returned home is on alert due to wildfire smoke.

The town of Lynn Lake has said a second evacuation could be ordered for Wednesday or Thursday.

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In a social media update Wednesday afternoon, the town says there was no imminent threat to the community.

“Fire trucks are being strategically positioned in and around the community as a precautionary measure in the event the risk to the town increases,” the post says. 

The town warned residents that smoke may become more prevalent as winds shift.

Those 600 residents returned home last week after being displaced for nearly a month. 

At one point, about 21,000 people across Manitoba were forced out in what is believed to be the largest exodus the province has seen in recent years.

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Many communities have been allowed to return home in recent weeks. Some, such as the Tataskweyak and Mathias Colomb Cree nations, remain evacuated.

The Bakers Narrows Provincial Park is set to reopen Wednesday morning for permanent residents, cottagers and commercial operators. The campground will remain closed for nightly and seasonal campers until at least July 17. 

Elsewhere, campgrounds in Nopiming Provincial Park, in eastern Manitoba, have been given tentative reopening dates after some areas were issued mandatory evacuation orders last month.

The Bird Lake campground will remain closed until at least July 10, while the campground at Tulabi Falls requires extensive cleanup. It is expected to remain closed until at least Aug. 4. 

In Saskatchewan, the village of Denare Beach, just across the boundary from Flin Flon, said on social media it’s allowing seasonal residents and non-residents to enter the community. Full-time residents were able to return Sunday.

“Please have respect for our residents during this difficult time,” the village said. “Do not trespass on private property.”

It said residents should boil their water as a precaution, and phone lines remain down.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency has said 218 personal residences in Denare Beach were burned down by wildfire.

As of Wednesday, there were 19 wildfires in Saskatchewan, with five uncontained. Two communities remain under evacuation.

— With files from Jeremy Simes in Regina