RM of Piney residents to return home after wildfire evacuation order lifted

Southern Manitobans who were forced out of their town because of an out-of-control fire will now be able to return home.

An evacuation order in the rural municipality of Piney was lifted after Manitoba Wildfire Services confirmed there were no concerns about the fire along the perimeter, the community said in an update Monday afternoon.

The rural municipality said the the nearly 9,000-hectare blaze is no longer out of control, and is being contained.

Around 300 people were evacuated in the town of Woodridge in the rural municipality last week. Earlier Monday, officials with the town urged residents to be patient.

"Everybody's getting anxious and wanting to lift [the evacuation] and they're wanting to come home," Wayne Anderson, reeve of the RM of Piney, said Monday.

The reeve said the rural municipality received 15 millimetres of rain at the end of the week, which helped firefighting efforts. 

Woodridge resident Mason Hildebrand has been staying in Steinbach. He told Radio-Canada before the order was lifted most evacuees he's with were "already sick" of being stuck at a hotel, and wanted to go back home.

"It's a little bit discouraging not being able to be in town in our own homes," he said. "But at the same time at least we're all safe."

The evacuation order has been lifted in the towns of Woodridge, Carrick, St. Labre, Badger and surrounding areas, as well as the south side of Whitemouth Lake Road near the townsite of Florze, the update said.

Lac du Bonnet fire no longer out of control

There are currently 13 active wildfires in Manitoba, and there have been 81 fires so far this year. The average for this time in the province is 61.

The 4,000-hectare fire which killed two people in the RM of Lac du Bonnet is no longer ruled to be out of control. About 150 people displaced by that fire were allowed to return home Sunday.

The provincial fire map still showed the Piney fire as out of control as of 5 p.m. on Monday. Two other out-of-control fires remain: a fire in Ingolf, Ont., that's spread into Manitoba, and the fire in Nopiming Provincial Park, which is the largest.

The province said Monday the Nopiming fire was 101,000 hectares in size and about a kilometre away from Bird River. It said 20 properties around Beresford Lake — which is north of the fire — have been damaged.

B.C. firefighters redeployed from The Pas to Nopiming

In northern Manitoba, officials are still monitoring a wildfire that was first detected on May 3 and has since grown to more than 42,000 hectares.

That fire was no longer out of control as of Thursday. B.C. Wildfire Service says 21 out of the 42 crews sent out to The Pas to help fight the fire have been redeployed in Nopiming, but the rest still remain in northern Manitoba.

At least 290 residents were forced out of their homes in RM of Kelsey because of the fire, with crews counting more than 90 evacuees from the Clearwater Lake Provincial Park area. They began returning home last week.

Lori Forbes, emergency services co-ordinator for the rural municipality, said the fire destroyed three homes as well as some livestock.

Manitoba Wildfire Services "are doing aerial with helicopters, they do infrared checking for hotspots just to ensure everything is out and cool. So those have been happening in the early mornings," Forbes said. 

"All evacuees from what I know would have returned home this weekend. So that's very good news."