Majority of Leaf Rapids wildfire evacuees now home, but residents upset by break-ins during evacuation

Most wildfire evacuees have returned to Leaf Rapids after spending a week away from home, but some were disheartened to find their homes broken into and want to see a change in leadership after a "gong show" evacuation.

The town declared a state of emergency on June 26, with an approximately 10,500-hectare fire burning eight kilometres outside of the community. Almost 400 residents were relocated to Thompson until the province lifted an evacuation order on July 4.

Liz Charrier had just left Leaf Rapids and was on a bus to Brandon, where she studies education, when the evacuation began on June 26. Her mother, partner and two children were given an hour to pack up before they fled to Thompson, she said.

After the evacuation order was lifted on Tuesday, Charrier said her partner, Sonny Moose, returned home to find it "upside down."

"He said that everything has been thrown all over my house," she told CBC News.

All of the food in their freezers was gone and all of their clothes had been rummaged through, said Charrier.

"Other than the food, the only other thing that was valuable that was stolen was my partner's guitar," which was worth $800 and had his daughter's name inscribed on it, she said.

Some of her home's windows were already boarded up from a previous break-in just three weeks prior. Charrier filed a report of the second break-in to a Mountie, who called the incident unfortunate, but told Charrier that  "everyone is OK [and] a house is just a house,'" she said.

"That didn't really give me peace of mind, because we were feeling like they were protecting our property while we left."

CBC News reached out to Manitoba RCMP to confirm the break-ins, but did not hear back prior to publication.

Charrier said the guitar was retrieved on Wednesday, after she posted about the theft to Facebook. Someone saw the instrument and told her partner who had it, she said.

"It was like an $800 guitar, but even if someone gave them $800 back, that wouldn't have filled the void," said Charrier. "It's sentimental for him. He couldn't replace that."

She heard from two other women in the community who said their homes were also broken into during the wildfire evacuation. Rumours about break-ins swirled in Thompson during the evacuation, which worried many, she said.

"We all thought this could possibly happen, but I honestly didn't think it would."