Smoke from northeastern Manitoba wildfire forces St. Theresa Point to begin evacuation
At least 8 St. Theresa Point First Nation residents evacuated to hotels in Brandon
Smoke billowing from a wildfire burning out of control in northeastern Manitoba has forced some people to flee from another First Nation community.
St. Theresa Point First Nation is the sixth community in the province to begin evacuations due to wildfires over the last two weeks.
The Canadian Red Cross said residents from St. Theresa Point First Nation began leaving on Thursday. Eight residents from the community are currently registered at hotels in Brandon, more than 550 kilometres to the southwest of St. Theresa Point.
The wildfire, about 20 kilometres south of God's Lake Narrows, is burning out of control, and is now just shy of 30,000 hectares in size, the province said in a Friday update.
Smoke from the blaze has also prompted partial evacuations from Wasagamack, Red Sucker Lake and God's Lake First Nations, as well as Manto Sipi Cree Nation over the past week.
The Canadian Red Cross said 232 people from God's Lake First Nation are currently registered and staying at hotels in Winnipeg, along with 296 from Red Sucker Lake Anisininew Nation.
There are now 525 people from Wasagamack First Nation registered at hotels in Winnipeg, up from 300 on Wednesday.
Air evacuations began from Manto Sipi Cree Nation on Tuesday, with 50 residents now staying at Brandon hotels.
Precipitation near Beaver Lake, west of the wildfire, on Tuesday night, gave some respite from the heavy smoke that has blanketed the area.
But the province said that without significant precipitation in the short-term forecast, the number of lightning- and human-caused fires continues to grow in Manitoba. As of Friday, there were 70 wildfires in the province, up from 58 on Wednesday.
Those include fires in northwestern Manitoba that forced a full-scale evacuation from Marcel Colomb First Nation. Two wildfires are burning out of control east of the community. The largest, which is now about four kilometres east of Marcel Colomb, covered 3,020 hectares on Friday, the province said.
The Red Cross said 205 Marcel Colomb residents are currently staying at hotels in Winnipeg.
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