Manitoba under provincewide emergency order as wildfires continue to burn

Manitoba is under a provincewide state of emergency as wildfires continue to rage, forcing even more evacuations out of northern communities.

The government declared the order Thursday, for the second time this year, and with the latest round of fires and evacuations, the province reported more than one million hectares burned — more than 10 times the average over the last 20 years.

In total, about 12,600 people are out of their homes in Manitoba. The government gave notice that it intends to use Winnipeg’s major convention centre to house evacuees.

The military stepped in Wednesday evening with a large Hercules transport plane to fly people out of Garden Hill First Nation as fires approached. The community of more than 3,000 residents is some 500 kilometres north of Winnipeg and not accessible by road.

Snow Lake, a town 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, also issued a mandatory evacuation order for its 1,000 residents.

In Saskatchewan, officials said there were 56 active fires as of Thursday. Less than 1,000 people remain evacuated there.

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