Pimicikimak Cree Nation trying to get 767 people out of northern Manitoba community as wildfire closes in
CBC
A wildfire is at the threshhold of Pimicikimak Cree Nation, choking the air with smoke, as the northern Manitoba community's leaders work to get 767 people out.
"Many that couldn't get out because the junction at Highway 374 and Highway 373 is their lifeline to Norway House, and now it's being compromised by the fire and the smoke," Chief David Monias said Thursday morning.
Pimicikimak had started a precautionary evacuation Friday as wildfires impacted air quality. Residents were flown out from the airport in the community, about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the shores of Cross Lake, but high winds and dry conditions worsened the situation this week.
Without notice, flights were cancelled Wednesday, just as Monias issued a full evacuation order, telling the remaining 6,500 residents to head south to Norway House Cree Nation.
That community is under an evacuation notice, but not yet an order.
Hundreds of vehicles and buses took people to the ferry for the final crossing to Norway House, but the bottleneck meant some waited up to nine hours without food or water, Monias said.
Some of them turned back and are now part of the remaining group trying to evacuate.
"It's very smoky here [and] it's getting thicker, because the fire's at our doorstep. The sky is black, but we don't see any flames," Monias said to the CBC Thursday.
In a Facebook post Thursday morning after Monias spoke to the CBC, he announced the Canadian Armed Forces had arrived in Norway House with a plane to take as many Pimicikimak residents to Winnipeg as possible.
"Please, we need your full co-operation to get on these flights when your name is called," he wrote. "These fires are unpredictable and dangerous. If the smoke shifts toward Norway House or worse, if the fire spreads in that direction, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to evacuate anyone from there."
Monias was trying to get answers from the Canadian Red Cross and federal government about the cancellations of flights to Pimicikimak, he said.
"I declared a state of emergency for my people [on Friday], and that was not recognized and was not respected. We see the fire, we smell it, we sense the fear. People are running out to Norway House without anything at all," he said, thanking the leaders in Norway House for welcoming his people.
"We're here, wondering what's going on."
In a Facebook post early Thursday, Monias said Norway House was prepared to receive 1,000 evacuees but instead took in six times that, "making accommodations incredibly difficult."
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