Lac du Bonnet wildfire evacuees return only to find 'barren, black wasteland'

Arturo Chang · CBC News

· Posted: May 22, 2025 8:47 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Some residents of the RM of Lac du Bonnet person returned location for the archetypal clip since the assemblage was evacuated much than a week ago, lone to find thing but rubble left.

The instrumentality of between 850 and 1,000 radical who were forced to permission the assemblage connected May 13 began Wednesday evening arsenic firefighters contained the wildfire adjacent the eastbound Manitoba community.

Twenty-eight properties successful the agrarian municipality were destroyed according to the RM. The now-4,000-hectare blaze has near immense stretches of onshore successful the community, specified arsenic Wendigo Road, unrecognizable.

Brad Wood's location connected Wendigo Road was 1 of the properties destroyed by the fire. On Thursday, helium was touring the spot for a 3rd clip since the country opened to residents.

Wood said seeing the devastation hasn't gotten immoderate easier.

"Every clip I get in, I consciousness adjacent more, I guess, heartbroke," helium said. "If you look astatine the before pictures with the flourishing forest, the vibrant people … you conscionable look astatine this and conscionable wonderment similar however does that survive?"

Wood built the location himself and helium hoped helium could determination there when helium retired. He said operation had conscionable wrapped up past year, and helium and his woman were conscionable opening to bask the property when the occurrence burned it to the ground.

"There's respective others connected the aforesaid vessel here who'd precocious conscionable finished moving oregon were astir completed," helium said. "Now you're close backmost to adjacent worse than starting over."

'It's precise different. It's precise sad'

Paula Johnson, who lives successful Grausdin Point, returned Thursday. She said her country was wholly missed by the fire.

"It's precise different. It's precise sad," she said. "A batch of people … we knew them and, of course, they mislaid their places. You astir person survivor's guilt due to the fact that your spot made it and theirs didn't."

Residents of Mascanow Drive, Shauman Lane and Sunlee Road were the latest allowed to instrumentality to the community. The evacuation bid successful those areas was lifted connected Thursday astatine 4 p.m. 

The Lac du Bonnet exigency co-ordinator is asking residents to motion up for the CONNECT exigency alert strategy earlier they instrumentality home, and to hole go-kits truthful they're capable to permission with 2 hours notice.

Wood said about 18 homes and cottages connected Wendigo Road were destroyed by the fire, in summation to garages, sheds boats, cars and different property.

Wood, who worked arsenic a firefighter for 30 years, said he's ne'er seen this level of destruction.

He said radical who've mislaid their homes are lone opening to marque their security claims, and that it whitethorn instrumentality respective years to rebuild.

"A batch of america that we're dreaming of retiring present successful the future, those aspirations whitethorn not travel to fruition conscionable strictly due to the fact that the wood volition not travel backmost successful that time," helium said.  

"You look retired astatine the lake, it's beautiful. The water's untouched. But you look to the wood down me, it's conscionable a barren, achromatic wasteland."