Poplar River evacuation order to be lifted Tuesday, chief says

Evacuees from Poplar River First Nation could be back in their homes as early as Tuesday after receiving word from the province that a nearby wildfire no longer threatened the community.

Members of Poplar River's emergency measures committee, who remained in the community after most of the people left, met with fire officials on Friday. They were told that recent rainfall helped firefighting efforts, keeping the fire line south of the community.

"The fire commission [said] that the fire has subsided quite a bit, that the community's not in danger, and the smoke is not as bad as it was two weeks ago," said Vera Mitchell, Chief of Poplar River.

Ernest Bruce is part of the emergency measures committee and was part of the group in Poplar River that met with fire commission and Manitoba Sustainable Development officials Friday.

"Based on the status of the fire and how slow it's been moving, they feel that it will get not totally extinguished but it will not pose a threat to the community," he said.

The first evacuees from Poplar River boarded nine-seater planes at the community's small airstrip and headed south more than three weeks ago.

At first, only 285 people were evacuated from the community, but on Aug. 22 the remainder of the First Nation's population of more than 800 people was ordered to leave to Winnipeg.

The evacuations, which were co-ordinated by the Canadian Red Cross, took several days, and Poplar River First Nation officials expect it will take about a week to get everyone back into the community.

"We are working with the First Nation leadership on the plan for the residents to return back to Poplar River," said Red Cross spokesperson Jason Small. "The Red Cross continues to focus on supporting all evacuees until they return home." 

Preparations will include demobilizing firefighters in the community and removing sprinklers that have been installed on outlying buildings to protect against flying embers from the fire, Bruce said.

Poplar River First Nation is about 345 kilometres north of Winnipeg and east of Lake Winnipeg.

Eager to return home

Since Tuesday, close to 5,000 people from the Island Lake area have also been forced out of their homes. Wildfires have forced the total evacuation of people from Wasagamack First Nation, as well as partial evacuations of St. Theresa Point First Nation and Garden Hill First Nation.

But with the fire near Poplar River stifled, residents are eager to return home, Mitchell said.

"I didn't think it would happen that quickly," she said.

But the length of time it took to evacuate everyone from Poplar River shows why community needs a bigger air strip, Mitchell said. Plans for a new air strip that can accommodate 30-seater planes have been in the works for close to 20 years, but not much progress has been made.

"If there is a real emergency, people will lose their lives," she said.