Flin Flon wildfire situation 'a timebomb' but so far no structures lost, mayor says

Darren Bernhardt · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 02, 2025 9:31 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

The wildfire gnawing astatine the borderline of Flin Flon is being fought by immoderate 200 firefighters, but the conflict is truly successful the hands of Mother Nature, the politician says. 

"Generally, it depends which mode the winds stroke and however hard they stroke and what absorption they're going to travel from. It's conscionable a fluid situation," George Fontaine told Heather Hiscox connected CBC Morning Live on Monday.

"I've been expecting to perceive catastrophic news, and truthful the information that I've not heard that has truly made maine consciousness a full batch better. But we're inactive successful the aforesaid situation. It's a clip bomb."

The immense bulk of the metropolis of astir 5,000 successful northwestern Manitoba was cleared retired connected Wednesday, with the remaining few — members of metropolis assembly and immoderate civic employees — leaving Thursday.

Fontaine, who's staying astatine his son's location successful Winnipeg, said truthful acold nary structures wrong the city have burned.

The fire, which was archetypal detected on May 27, is astir 40,000 hectares and inactive listed by the state arsenic retired of control. In summation to Flin Flon, a mandatory evacuation bid is successful spot for Big Island Lake, Schist Lake and Bakers Narrows.

An update connected the City of Flin Flon's Facebook page on Monday greeting said "Flin Flon is holding strong."

That comes aft an update posted to the tract precocious Sunday day by Deputy Mayor Allison Dallas-Funk, who said the winds that time had picked up to specified an utmost grade that crew lost the 12 hours of advancement they had made trying to propulsion the occurrence back.

The forecast for Monday calls for much favourable upwind — cooler temperatures and some rain.

It was 25 C connected Sunday with upwind gusts implicit 50 km/h. A precocious of 19 C is expected Monday with a fewer showers done the greeting and into the afternoon. Winds, though, are inactive expected to beryllium 30-50 km/h earlier easing up successful the evening.

Along with the 200 firefighters, the Flin Flon response includes two dense helitankers that tin transportation monolithic bags of water, three smaller chopper buckets, three h2o bombers and 19 pumper trucks, Fontaine said.

"We person everything that tin beryllium thrown astatine it that's available. Provincially, they are stretched truthful thin," helium said.

As of Sunday (the astir caller update from the province), determination were 25 progressive wildfires successful Manitoba. There has been a full of 106 already this season, far above the province's 20-year yearly mean of 84 at this clip of year.

In a Facebook station connected Sunday titled "Keeping misinformation astatine bay," Dallas-Funk said it was important to underscore that nary structures person been mislaid and nary injuries person been reported.

"False rumours astir fatalities oregon injuries … person been a superior obstruction to our firefighters being capable to absorption connected battling the blaze. Volunteers from each of the communities progressive person been bombarded with telephone calls and messages from disquieted loved ones trying to way them down and marque definite they're okay," she wrote.

"It puts accent connected our firefighters, and connected the families they near to assistance support our community. We guarantee you that we volition stock important events that interaction our assemblage members, our firefighters or their families arsenic soon arsenic we are alert of them."

Fontaine reiterated that successful his interrogation with Hiscox connected Monday. 

"For those radical who are passing connected stories similar that, delight don't. There is nary 1 that's been hurt," helium said.

"I consciousness so bad for the families who cognize that their relatives are determination warring fires. To perceive stories that are not true … that's got to beryllium gut-wrenching to the radical who are surviving connected the outside."

More than 17,000 radical are being oregon person been evacuated from northern, western and eastbound regions of the province.

Mandatory evacuations are successful spot for:

• Flin Flon.
• Lynn Lake.
• Big Island Lake.
• Schist Lake.
• Bakers Narrows.
• Bissett.
• Sherridon.
• Cranberry Portage.
• Pukatawagan (Mathias Colomb Cree Nation).
• Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake).
• Tataskwayak Cree Nation (Split Lake).

Voluntary evacuation orders are successful spot for:

• Wanless.
• Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

The Manitoba FireView map includes locations, sizes and different accusation astir the wildfires.

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