Flin Flon mayor says wildfire now threatening community from all 4 sides

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 03, 2025 7:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

A wildfire on Manitoba's occidental borderline is present threatening Flin Flon, with flames coming from each 4 sides, the city's mayor says, arsenic immoderate surviving conscionable extracurricular the bluish assemblage person lost their homes to flames.

Flin Flon Mayor George Fontaine said though truthful acold nary structures person been burned wrong the metropolis limits, helium inactive doesn't consciousness immoderate much assured astir the future of the metropolis of 5,000 than helium did a week ago, erstwhile residents were evacuating.

"I'm conscionable perfectly impressed on, you know, what it is that the radical up determination person been capable to bash to marque definite … our assemblage is not gone. And it surely could person been gone," helium said successful an interrogation successful the Winnipeg country Tuesday afternoon.

But "I'm terrified," helium said. "When I left, I didn't deliberation I'd ever spot my location again — and I'm not assured that I will. But I anticipation to."

An update from the City of Flin Flon issued Tuesday said airdrome unit person present besides been evacuated from the assemblage for their safety, portion electrical powerfulness has present been restored pursuing a Monday nighttime outage, and resulting h2o and sewer challenges person besides been resolved.

Crews are present focused connected areas westbound of Creighton, conscionable across the provincial borderline from Flin Flon in Saskatchewan, the update said.

But not everyone's homes were saved from the flames. Just extracurricular the metropolis of Flin Flon connected Sally's Beach Road, Michelle Szott said her household cottage was lost, on with years' worthy of photos and different household items.

"Just however could this perchance person happened is the almighty question," said Szott, who lives successful Alberta but grew up successful the Flin Flon country and visits astir 4 months of the year.

"It's a hard happening to understand, you know, however rapidly that our lives person changed successful that respect."

In an interrogation Tuesday, Szott said she and her hubby were astatine the cottage astir 2 weeks ago, but didn't recognize it would beryllium the past clip they saw it earlier the "complete daze and devastation" of the caller wildfires.

"I conscionable said to my hubby past night, 'Why didn't we drawback the photograph albums?" she said.

"And I conscionable — I bleed for the radical that are imperishable residents that person mislaid perfectly everything. And I can't adjacent explicit it successful words."

'I conscionable started to shake'

The fires adjacent Flin Flon are besides threatening adjacent Saskatchewan communities, including Denare Beach, wherever immoderate residents watched done doorbell cameras arsenic their homes burned down.

Though technically successful antithetic provinces, the communities are adjacent capable that galore residents travel to Flin Flon to shop, work, be religion and more, Mayor Fontaine said.

"They person antithetic assemblage names and that benignant of thing, but they're each Flin Floners," Fontaine said. "We are a community, precise overmuch so."

That includes radical similar Elaine Angelski, who lives successful Denare Beach but works successful Flin Flon arsenic a teacher astatine the section precocious school.

While Angelski said arsenic acold arsenic she knows, her location seems to person been spared truthful far, she felt sick erstwhile she heard astir the devastation the fires had caused.

"It was awful. It was an contiguous accent response," she said. "I conscionable started to shake, and felt similar I was going to vomit, actually."

• Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anyplace successful Manitoba oregon email [email protected].

Angelski and her member Lyle, who lives successful adjacent Creighton, person evacuated from their homes and are for present staying successful Opaskwayak Cree Nation, astir 100 kilometres southbound of Flin Flon, on with her 2 aged dogs. But she said accommodations that enactment for her brother, who uses a wheelchair, person been hard to travel by.

"It's 1 time astatine a time, 1 hr astatine a time. And trying to beryllium prepared for the adjacent step, you know, trying to marque definite that if we bash [leave], we person determination other to go," she said, adding she's been looking into whether immoderate attraction homes oregon akin facilities person an other furniture wherever her member could stay.

Mayor Fontaine urged radical to recognize that crews are moving with a "complete deficiency of instrumentality close crossed the province" due to the fact that of however galore fires are burning, and warned Flin Flon residents not to effort to travel backmost to their homes earlier it's safe. 

"People say, 'Couldn't you enactment sprinklers connected my roof?' We could have, if we conscionable had your spot to instrumentality attraction of," Fontaine said.

WATCH | Fire crews spray h2o astir state presumption adjacent Flin Flon, Man.:

He added lone those moving connected the occurrence effect are allowed successful the metropolis close now, "and nary 1 other is invited — don't ask."

"The crushed radical are retired close present is due to the fact that it's uncontrollable, it's retired of control. And you're going to enactment retired — no substance who you are, nary substance who you deliberation you are — you're going to enactment retired until there's immoderate grade of control."

Find the latest wildfire accusation astatine these sources:

• Canadian wildfire map
• Province of Manitoba occurrence bulletins
• CBC's wildfire tracker