Residents asked to evacuate as wildfire threatens RM of Alexander for 2nd time in recent weeks

Some residents of a community in eastern Manitoba were asked to leave their property out of concerns a nearby wildfire may threaten their homes should winds turn their way.

People living in the Rural Municipality of Alexander between Hill Road and the Bird River bridge were advised to evacuate Monday afternoon after a fire began north of the Bird River area.

Chief administrative officer Gisele Smith said the number of people who may have had to evacuate is currently unknown.

"There are a lot of cottages in that area," she said.

"I was told that it wasn't going to affect people, residents or properties unless the wind turned, and so then that's where the concern is. And there's heavy smoke right now."

The evacuation zone includes Ridge Road, Pioneer Drive, Beaver Drive, Moose Row and the Southland Church Bible Camp. Residents are being asked to go to a reception centre in the Great Falls community hall.

Cottagers who registered for the RM's emergency alert system will get notifications about the evacuation, Smith said.

The province is also closing Highway 314 through Nopiming Provincial Park bordering the RM to the northeast amid a separate fire.

The government said Monday afternoon the fire is currently about 400 hectares and that crews are working on it.

The province said it's recommended people in the cottage subdivisions in Bird River and nearby Tanco mine to evacuate.

This is the second fire the RM of Alexander has had to deal with in recent weeks. People in Traverse Bay were forced out of their homes after a fire ravaged through hectares of Crown land in late April.

Bob Kozyra said he was heading up to his cottage when he saw the fire, and decided to turn around out of concerns he could end up stranded.

"The smoke, you could smell it, you could hear the crackling of the flames and you can literally watch the fire going across and probably within a quarter of a kilometre from the road," he said.

"I hope the [water bombers] were able to put some sort of control on it. But … the wind was big-time causing some problems."

Larry Lee lives two kilometres east of the Tanco mine.

"We saw a few people evacuating. Perhaps five or six that we met on the road," he said. "We saw probably 10 or 15 Tanco mine employees driving north to get away from the area [the mine] is in."

Lee said he and a handful families have decided to stay for the time being, but that he's packed and ready to go if the fire goes out of control.

"We still have our emergency bags packed and we will monitor things," he said.

The RM of Alexander is about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, on Lake Winnipeg's southern shore.