Pukatagawan residents arrive in Winnipeg as evacuation continues

Dozens of Pukatawagan residents who took a nearly 16-hour train ride to Winnipeg were among the latest to escape the community days after a wildfire forced the evacuation of the northern Manitoba First Nation.

A Via Rail train carrying about 120 wildfire evacuees — most of them from Pukatawagan — arrived in Winnipeg from The Pas around 7:30 p.m. CT Saturday.

Pukatawagan is about 700 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, as the crow flies. The fire near the community was about 9,800 hectares in size as of the province's latest fire bulletin Saturday.

River Caribou said the journey on the train was the end of a chaotic exit from the community, which has been under an evacuation order since Wednesday, when the Manitoba government declared a provincewide state of emergency.

"Everybody was in an alarm," Caribou said. "We were put into The Pas and they accommodated us into an arena.… We were there for about maybe 12 hours and then we boarded the train to Winnipeg."

Coun. Kelly Linklater said about 1,300 people had been moved out of the community as of Sunday morning, but there's still more than 1,000 who still need to be evacuated.

"As of this morning, there are three Chinooks that are going up there," Linklater said during an interview on Rosemary Barton Live. "Fortunately, the winds have changed and moved. Two days ago, they were moving into the community."

The Canadian Armed Forces began flying out Pukatawagan residents on Chinook helicopters on Saturday.

Pukatawagan's only airstrip — which shut down on Thursday because of heavy smoke — reopened Saturday morning, but the First Nation's chief Gordie Bear the runway is too small to accommodate large aircraft.

Cornelia Colomb said she got on a helicopter Saturday afternoon.

"There's times that you look out the living room window, you could see the flames," she said.

"Keeping the family together was our [first] priority and keeping calm was our second."

Linklater said the First Nation's leadership expected evacuation efforts to wrap up Sunday. Evacuees have also been transported to Portage La Prairie, Brandon and The Pas.

Opaskwayak Cree Nation near The Pas opened up its hall and arena to accommodate some evacuees.