Latest news with #ThePas
CBC
15-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Cranberry Portage evacuees return home to limited food access, medical care as Flin Flon remains empty
Social Sharing Residents from Cranberry Portage began returning to the northern Manitoba community on Saturday morning, two weeks after a wildfire knocked out its power and forced locals to evacuate to Winnipeg and The Pas. But some Cranberry Portage residents say they'll be returning limited access to essential supplies or medical care as the nearby city of Flin Flon remains under a mandatory evacuation order. On Friday, the Manitoba government announced that mandatory evacuation orders were being lifted for Cranberry Portage, Sherridon, Herb Lake Landing and Snow Lake. About 1,785 evacuees — about 440 of them from Cranberry Portage — could go home at 8 a.m. on Saturday, the province said. Evacuee Peter Thibodeau said he was among the first people to return to Cranberry Portage Saturday morning, but some others are staying where they are — many in Winnipeg or The Pas — until Flin Flon reopens. "A lot of people aren't coming back until they have to go grocery shopping. There's no grocery store here and Flin Flon is still closed," he said. Flin Flon is located about 35 kilometres northwest of Cranberry Portage, and is home to the closest grocery store and hospital to the community. Locals drive about 20 minutes north on Highway 10 to get their essentials in the city. Returning Cranberry Portage evacuees will now have to drive an hour south to The Pas to access grocery stores, medical care and other essentials until it's safe to return to Flin Flon. "They're just going to have to drive a little further for those services that they require," said Lori Forbes, emergency co-ordinator for the rural municipality of Kelsey. "Flin Flon will be open eventually, sooner than later I'm assuming, but I'm going to leave that up to them to make those decisions," she said. Irvin Head, who fled Cranberry Portage with his family on May 30, said he was surprised to hear residents could return to their homes Saturday. He's been in Winnipeg for the last two weeks and plans to stay longer. "We were sort of hunkering down for maybe a month's worth of waiting around," Head said. He said he's concerned that Cranberry Portage residents can return home while Flin Flon is still under an evacuation order. He said the community relies on services in the city, especially the hospital and grocery store, which both remain closed. "That's a big lifeline," Head said. "Even if we do go back … it'll still be a little bit of a 'what do we do?'" Returning residents happy to be home but prepared to leave Forbes said all of the structures in Cranberry Portage are intact, power has been restored and municipal services are running again. She said the local dump is also open, which will likely be in heavy use as some residents return to spoiled food in their refrigerators. "I think everyone is very fortunate up in Cranberry Portage. There [was] no structural damage. So they're going home to a community that's ready to receive them, get their lawns mowed, get some gardens put in, and carry on with everyday life," Forbes said. "I'm really glad to be able to tell these residents that they can head home today," Forbes told CBC News on Saturday. Thibodeau said "it's not really sunk in yet" that he's home. He said dandelions have sprouted up across everyone's lawns since they've been gone, so he plans to mow his lawn and catch up on errands before returning to work. Thibodeau was among the Cranberry Portage residents who were forced out by a fast-moving wildfire a year ago, so he said he's staying packed in case fire forces him out again soon. "I'm going to do some laundry and keep the bag ready," he said. While some residents are happy to be home, Head said his family has decided to stay in Winnipeg for now. He said the decision to leave the Cranberry Portage in the first place was ultimately about not having enough basic services for people and not a direct fire risk. "I would rather go home, especially after how much work it took to get some sort of support here [in Winnipeg]," he said.
CBC
13-06-2025
- Climate
- CBC
'Alone and ignored': Sask. wildfire evacuees slam province's response
Social Sharing As thousands of wildfire evacuees from parts of northern Saskatchewan start to return home, others are still scattered across multiple provinces, struggling to access aid and waiting for answers. Shyla Evans, who fled Creighton, Sask., with her husband late last month, is one of them. Since then, the couple has moved three times, trying to find a place to stay. "We all got evacuated from Flin Flon to The Pas because that was the only safe way out," Evans said in an interview on CBC Saskatchewan's The 306. "Once we got to The Pas, we had family there, but we wanted to be closer to an airport because my husband has to fly out for work." After moving to Tisdale for two nights, they were forced to relocate again to Melfort. "This is really the first place that's been a home for just the four of us, so we're very thankful to be here," Evans said. That stability has come at a cost. Evans said they've received no financial support from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) or the Red Cross, despite reaching out multiple times. "We are lucky enough to have gotten support from our house insurance. That is all," she said. "We are paying out of our own pocket from the money we saved for retirement. We were hoping to retire in a few years, but I think it might take a little longer now." WATCH | Wildfire evacuees are still having trouble finding crucial information: Wildfire evacuees are still having trouble finding crucial information 2 hours ago Duration 3:28 Shyla Evans had to leave her home in Creighton, Sask., at the end of May and is now in Melfort. She told The 306 her family has received almost no information or government support. Evans said many others from Creighton are in much worse shape. "No one that I know from Creighton has received any funding at all from either the SPSA or the Red Cross," she said. "People are very frustrated and afraid, and we feel alone and ignored." She said a friend plans to contact the provincial ombudsman after spending hours on hold with no help. "There are some people with no money at all except what they came with," Evans said. "A lot of people that I know wound up sleeping in their vehicles with their pets, because they would go to the next community and it was already full." Evacuee who supported Moe expresses disappointment Sheri Parr, also evacuated from Creighton, shares the same frustration. She said she has been a supporter of Premier Scott Moe, but is disappointed with how he has responded. "I think Manitoba handled it hands down better than Saskatchewan," Parr said. "[Manitoba Premier] Wab Kinew has been out to tour these places and boots on the ground." She described a confusing and inconsistent process, where residents were bounced between agencies and told different things about how and where to get help. "We were told we couldn't collect any kind of support in Manitoba — that we had to go to Saskatchewan," she said. "But then you can't collect money unless you're there in person. It's been crazy." Parr says evacuees are falling through the cracks. "It's almost like their workers don't even know exactly what's going on," she said. "There's a lot of vulnerable people out there right now that I don't know what they're doing to make ends meet." Evans echoed those concerns, noting that even community donations aren't reaching Creighton evacuees. "There's a different charity at our hotel every night feeding us supper, but what they don't understand is that the funds they're donating aren't reaching our community at all," she said. Both women called for better preparedness and long-term planning. "We need to look at having a national fire service," Parr said. "There needs to be an emergency protocol in place in every one of these communities." While grateful to be safe, Evans said she and others are bracing for a longer displacement than expected. The province is providing financial support of up to $200 per day for evacuees through the SPSA, along with $500 in financial assistance. But many say that isn't reaching them and doesn't cover the cost of prolonged displacement.
CBC
13-06-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Riley Laychuk's Manitoba forecast for Friday, June 13, 2025
A much-needed rain is coming to northern Manitoba this weekend. Amounts are forecast in the 20 millimetre range, with locally higher accumulation possible around Flin Flon and The Pas.
CBC
10-06-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Choppers, dozers and railway workers: on the front lines of the Manitoba wildfire fight
Helicopter pilots, heavy machinery operators and railway workers are some of the people on the front lines of the Manitoba wildfire fight. Manitoba remains under a provincewide state of emergency as 29 wildfires continue to burn in the east, west and north, 10 of which are out of control. Those fires have forced 21,000 people from their homes and 27 communities are under mandatory evacuation order. Hundreds of unsung heroes, like Clifford Nabess, are working to contain the flames. Nabess and seven of his colleagues at the Keewatin Railway Company have been going in and out of the wildfires for days trying to save 16 train bridges that are essential for transporting people and goods to Pukatawagan, also known as Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and Sherridon, a small community north of The Pas, which is about 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. " It's the only really lifeline besides the airport that gets to the community of Pukatawagan," Nabess said. Their job is to refuel water trucks that have been keeping the bridges from burning. He said sometimes the fire is so close he can feel it. " You can feel the heat right through the side of the windows. There's a few times we've drove through fire where it's actually raining fire on the window," said Nabess. He and his colleagues know their lives are in danger every time they go to work, but if they don't and a bridge burns down, it could take two months to repair. The Sherridon wildfire is out of control and more than 300,000 hectares big, according to the province. Nabess estimates between 80 and 100 kilometres of forest has been destroyed around the two remote Northern Manitoba communities. " It's very bad … for people that will come back to work later this year, it's gonna look totally different because there's nothing there." For miles and miles, all you can see is bare land and total destruction, he said. U.S. helicopter pilots offer air support Rob Brunken spent 22 years as part of the United States Marine Corps. After retiring, he got his pilot's licence and now works for Columbia Helicopters in Aurora, Oregon. When he and his colleagues heard Manitoba needed critical air support and manpower, they stepped up. "We kind of showed up … and have just been trying to help wherever we can," Brunken said on the tarmac at The Pas airport. Four pilots, eight mechanics and two helicopters equipped with 1,200-gallon water buckets, from Columbia Helicopters, arrived in The Pas on May 30 and were ready for deployment the following day. Brunken said they have been working non-stop, but smoke and poor visibility have been challenging. " This is one of the worst weather conditions that I've seen, said Brunken. "The smoke just lays in. You got some pretty heavy easterly winds and it's just been pushing, it's been fuelling the fire and it has been pushing our visibility to kind of a minimum," he said. Brunken said you can't put out a wildfire with a helicopter, but you can coach the flames toward ground crews who are ready to snuff them out. " We're not like seeing a bunch of flame and saying, 'Oh, let's go put that out'," said Brunken. " The ground crews are really what makes the big difference. So what we do is we kind of get instructions like, 'Hey, the fire's heading this way, can you guys kind of help coach it over to our ground crews?' And that's really what we're trying to do," he said. The helicopters also provide air support for heavy machine operators like Gary Lajambe. Dozers used to create fire guards Lajambe and his team use bulldozers to tear up the earth, and break up the treeline to try and prevent the fires from spreading. They call that a fire guard, or fire break. "You make a just like a road allowance and then when the fire gets there it's got to kind of stop. It's got no fuel," said Lajambe. He said the only time it goes over a fire guard is when there are strong winds that push the flames into nearby trees. Lajambe has never seen the forest this dry. He said normally in the spring there's a lot more moisture in the land. He said this year, when the bulldozers push the trees, dust comes off them. "I've really never seen much of that throughout the years. So it's dry, it's really dry," he said. Lajambe said unless Manitoba gets a lot of rain, there could be a lot more wildfires this summer and fall.
Globe and Mail
09-06-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Meta news ban could prove detrimental during wildfires, experts say
Since wildfires began ravaging Manitoba last month, Chantelle Senyk has felt on edge as she repeatedly refreshes Facebook and scrolls through alarming photos and videos of forests engulfed in flames and smoky skies. Although checking the social-media platform on her phone gives her anxiety, for Ms. Senyk, who lives in the northern small town of The Pas, Facebook is also a lifeline. She and her family rely on its community groups to get the latest updates on the fires, including evacuation notices. When Ms. Senyk's sister recently evacuated, a connection she made in a Facebook group was able to confirm her home in Denare Beach, Sask., was gone. Ms. Senyk is one of the tens of thousands of Canadians in areas affected by wildfires who depend on Facebook groups to find and share news about the spread, evacuation notices and community resources. But since 2023, Meta has banned articles from news outlets on Facebook and Instagram, a move some media experts warn could prevent critical information from reaching the most people during such emergencies. Wildfire smoke is affecting air quality across the country. Here's what you need to know There are currently more than 220 wildfires burning across the country, at least 97 of which are deemed out of control. Manitoba and Saskatchewan have evacuated more than 30,000 people, and over the weekend, new wildfires broke out in Northwestern Ontario, prompting military support. Archie McLean, the former managing editor of CBC North based out of Yellowknife, says rural and northern communities are particularly affected by Meta's news ban during wildfire season. 'Facebook use in northern, rural and Indigenous communities is much higher than in southern Canada. Facebook is like the window to the world: It's how they communicate with friends, how they get the news,' said Mr. McLean, who is an assistant journalism professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary. 'When it comes to wildfires, it's often rural and northern communities that are bearing the brunt of this, and they're doing it without news on their most popular and reliable platform.' Meta began blocking Canadians from viewing, accessing and sharing news article links on Facebook and Instagram in August, 2023, in response to Bill C-18, the federal law that forces online platforms to compensate Canadian news organizations. However, about a year into the ban, three-quarters of Canadians were unaware of the ban, according to a survey from the Media Ecosystem Observatory, a research group at McGill University that analyzes digital threats to democracy. Aengus Bridgman, the director of Media Ecosystem Observatory, says Canadians are generally passive news consumers who believe that they will be informed as long as they're connected to social-media platforms in some way. 'There's a very high level of people who don't know news has been blocked, so they might continue to think they're going to get the news they need when, in fact, they're not. Some of that news potentially could be life saving, but it could also impact behaviours in a variety of ways,' says Mr. Bridgman. Meta says during disasters such as wildfires the company launches a crisis response page on Facebook that posts information from official sources, as well as other relevant posts from local authorities and community members. 'It's simply not true that we're not providing access to vital information. Our crisis response tools connect millions of Canadians to official information from government agencies and emergency services, and governments use our platforms to communicate directly and in real time with their residents,' said Julia Perreira, a spokesperson for Meta. Where in Canada are there wildfire smoke warnings? Our map tracks air quality across the country During disasters and other emergencies, social media has also become fertile ground for misinformation. Throughout the devastating 2023 wildfires across Canada and last year's fire in Jasper, Alta., some trending posts falsely claimed that the federal government set the fires and intentionally did not provide resources to affected communities. Ms. Senyk says she's also seen some misinformation spread on Facebook recently, such as a post that falsely claimed two firefighters died in Denare Beach 'If people are posting things that aren't true, that gets everybody else worked up. They're calling their families who are on the front lines and it's creating more chaos when there doesn't need to be,' says Ms. Senyk. Mr. Bridgman says social media platforms have an increased duty to its users that they're failing to fulfill. 'When you're Facebook and you have a million users in a province where there are systematic wildfires, what responsibility do you have to them? How can you support the emergency response? My very strong sense at the moment is that there is either very few or no one within these large social companies who ask themselves those questions,' he says.
