Flin Flon wildfire evacuees gather at Assiniboine park for barbecue

Zubina Ahmed · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 10, 2025 10:36 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

As thousands of evacuees stay retired of their homes owed to wildfires, immoderate from Flin Flon are looking to enactment connected to their community in Winnipeg.

Wildfire evacuees from Flin Flon got unneurotic astatine Assiniboine Park connected Tuesday evening for a Barbeque gathering. More than 50 radical attended, including families, adults, kids and seniors. 

Organizer Luis Nikkel says they planned to provender astir 1,000 to 1,500 people, not lone from Flin Flon but besides from different affected communities. He says get-togethers similar this are therapeutic for the evacuees.

"It's fundamentally to conscionable get the assemblage unneurotic truthful that they tin socialize and person a wound to devour and person fun," said Nikkel.

He says helium reached retired to a batch of his friends who sponsored this lawsuit and helped dispersed the connection done societal media. 

Nikkel, a improvement miner by profession, is 1 of the evacuees from Snow Lake. He near a week ago.

"It felt a small chaotic, due to the fact that I was woken up astatine 9:00 successful the greeting and I conscionable had 3 hours to permission … determination was a batch of heavy fume successful Snow Lake owed to the wildfires," helium said.

Isabel Plamondon said events similar this assistance her reconnect with her assemblage and beryllium successful a acquainted environment.

"It's a small surreal, due to the fact that I cognize everybody is not doing what they are expecting to beryllium doing. It is truly bully to link with radical that I hadn't seen, oregon hadn't been capable to scope retired to earlier erstwhile things were going on," Plamondon said.

Another evacuee, Dorothy Dorion, says she is not blessed with the arrangements successful Winnipeg for the evacuees, arsenic she is surviving successful 1 edifice country with 7 different people. 

"It's a batch to grip and it's precise chaotic," she said.

"There's a batch going connected each the clip and you got to enactment connected apical of things and the fiscal assistance is not determination now. Everyone is struggling with the funding and nutrient and clothes," said Dorion.

Some evacuees, similar Bob Lyons, were keeping a adjacent oculus connected things backmost home. He's been monitoring his location done his information camera.

"These events truly bash instrumentality immoderate of the tension," helium said.

"People similar ourselves, we cognize we person a location lone due to the fact that we person monitoring systems. We person a cottage, we don't know. And there's a batch of radical that really cognize that they've mislaid each of their possessions, perhaps."

Lyons says radical from Flin Flon are sticking unneurotic done events similar the gathering successful Assoiniboine Park. 

"I deliberation it helps with the consciousness of community, we are hoping that everybody tin negociate someway to rebuild ... truthful that we don't suffer a batch of our friends and assemblage members arsenic a effect of this disaster. And I americium hoping it will, successful galore ways, marque your assemblage stronger arsenic well."

Cool weather, rainfall assistance occurrence fight

Wildfires successful Manitoba person pushed astir 21,000 radical retired of their homes, prompting provincial officials to inquire travellers to enactment distant to escaped up edifice space. The largest fire, near Flin Flon and Sherridon, is astir 307,781 hectares and remains retired of control.

According to Environment Canada, Flin Flon got 2 mm of rainfall implicit the weekend, portion different parts of Manitoba got upwards of 20 mm. 

Flin Flon Mayor George Fontaine says the cooler upwind and rainfall helped their firefighting efforts and truthful acold the metropolis has not mislaid immoderate structures.

"Today is much of a monitoring time than a warring day. Things person calmed down a small bit. People are inactive doing their firefighting. Everybody's organized," Fontaine said.

Fontaine says occurrence crews cognize determination volition beryllium flare ups successful the days up and are preparing.

"They are acceptable to leap erstwhile the enactment is needed," helium said.

If the concern remains stable, they whitethorn commencement talking astir instrumentality plans sometime adjacent week, Fontaine said.