Firefighters battling Nopiming wildfire in 'protection mode' to save buildings, cabins

CBC News

· Posted: May 16, 2025 10:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Officials successful the Rural Municipality of Alexander are successful "protection mode" arsenic much than 100 firefighters are connected the crushed adjacent Bird River to combat the dispersed of a wildfire that has engulfed parts of Nopiming Provincial Park. 

The wildfire is present astir 100,000 hectares successful size, according to a occurrence update from the state astatine 5 p.m. connected Friday. 

Mac Kinghorn, the agrarian municipality's lawman politician and occurrence main with the Bird River Fire Department, says the occurrence —- located connected the southbound broadside of the Bird River Bible Camp —- "is large and it is retired of control." 

In a video posted to Facebook connected Friday afternoon, Kinghorn said h2o bombing was expected to beryllium done Friday, if upwind allowed, and sprinklers person been installed connected the roofs of cabins to bounds harm caused by the fire. 

"Hopefully that volition assistance to support things immoderate more," Kinghorn said of the h2o bombers. 

Mayor Jack Brisco said 100 firefighters are successful "protection mode," trying to support structures from further damage, wherever it is harmless to bash so. 

Brisco said the dense rainfall connected Friday has really made it hard to get h2o bombers successful the aerial to combat the fire. He said that arsenic of Friday morning, h2o bombers from Ontario person joined crews battling the Nopiming blaze. 

"They're successful a antiaircraft mode close present and looking astatine protecting buildings. They truly aren't going retired into the wood to combat the fire. They're looking aft structures close now," Brisco told CBC's Marcy Markusa successful an interrogation connected Radio Noon Manitoba. 

All residents successful the impacted areas adjacent Bird River person been evacuated, the state said, arsenic person unit astatine Bernic Lake Mine. Sections of highways 315 and 314 person been closed and blocked, the state said. 

Brisco estimates 1,000 radical person been evacuated from the area, with the occurrence affecting residents successful 400 homes crossed 20 subdivisions. He told Markusa that nary properties successful the country had been destroyed arsenic of Friday afternoon.

"We don't cognize erstwhile you'll beryllium capable to get backmost successful but it's going to beryllium a spot yet earlier conditions let that to happen," Kinghorn said.  

Residents volition person to enactment distant until aft the Victoria Day agelong weekend, said Brisco, arsenic helium "can't spot that happening implicit the play astatine all."

Krystal Laurin is simply a imperishable nonmigratory successful the "close-knit" assemblage of Bissett, astir 70 kilometres northbound of Bird River adjacent the bluish reaches of the wildfire successful the provincial park. 

"This is wherever I live. I enactment astatine the excavation successful town, truthful this is … everything, right? So if you suffer it each I mean it's nary antithetic than everybody successful Lac du Bonnet currently. We're conscionable connected edge," Laurin said. 

"People adjacent person sprinklers and worldly acceptable up successful their location should these winds change," she said. 

Reena Hubatka, who lives successful Calgary but has a household compartment connected Beresford Lake, says she feels "overwhelmed" and "scared" and "sad" aft the wildfire forced her to cancel plans to beryllium with her household successful Manitoba implicit the Victoria Day agelong weekend. 

"Wildfires [have] been thing that we've each experienced successful Canada successful the past nevertheless galore years, conscionable proceeding radical losing their homes and fleeing. Of people it sounds tragic, but until it's thing you're experiencing it's truthful hard," Hubatka told CBC News. 

Hubatka said it's been hard to get authoritative information, but believes her compartment is OK astatine this point. She says different household and friends successful the country whitethorn not beryllium truthful lucky. 

"It's conscionable truthful bittersweet and devastating," she said.