Ralph Caribou, the UCN coordinator for the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, is actively working on evacuations. The chief, a councilor and 40 residents were still trying to escape the area Sunday morning, Karibo said in an email to the CBC. “This morning heavy smoke continues,” he wrote. A helicopter and a plane helping with evacuation efforts experienced engine trouble Saturday because of the smoke, Caribou said, and were unable to take off. Trains from the Keewatin Railway Company have been called to evacuate those who remain. Caribou said the boats were also ready just in case. The fire near Mathias Colomb is now about 230 square kilometers in size and is less than a kilometer from the community, the Manitoba Wildfire Service wrote in an email to CBC Sunday. WATCHES | Out-of-control wildfire in northern Manitoba prompts evacuation:
The fires led to the evacuation of First Nation in northern Manitoba
A wildfire in northern Manitoba has forced nearly 2,000 people from their homes on the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation. Additional support is being provided to the local fire service to ensure any new starts or flying embers are accounted for and to ensure important infrastructure or individual homes are not damaged, the email said. The Northwest Territories have sent four single-engine water bombers and an observation aircraft. Twenty firefighters from Ontario will arrive today to tackle wildfires in the northwest, the Manitoba fire service said. An estimated 2,000 people have been evacuated from the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, Red Cross spokesman Jason Small said in an email to the CBC. While the majority of residents were taken out by train, the remaining 30 to 40 people are being flown in today, according to the Red Cross. Crews from the Keewatin Railway Company, partly owned by Mathias Colomb and two other First Nations, worked around the clock to get the majority of residents safely out of the community. (Submitted by Anthony Mayham, KRC) The Canadian military sent two transport planes on Saturday to help with the evacuation. One of them picked up 41 people and flew them about 200 kilometers south of The Pas, said a spokesman for Canada’s 17 Wing in Winnipeg. Another military aircraft was sent earlier on Friday to airlift people to Winnipeg – about 700 kilometers to the southeast – but was unable to land there due to poor visibility.
“The sky was yellow”
Charmaine Greene, a resident of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, is a front desk receptionist for the community nursing station. He fled to Winnipeg on Friday. He said the fire was so close to the nursing home Friday that hoses and sprinklers were placed near the building. Greene said she and another staff member were in the office for three days directing calls for the evacuation process before colleagues knocked on the door to let them know the fire was approaching. Charmaine Greene, who works at the community infirmary, said the fire was so close that sprinklers and hoses had been set up next to the building. (Walther Bernal/CBC) “The sky was yellow and you could see dark gray clouds rolling in. It was hard to breathe outside.” Greene is relieved to have escaped and said she hopes all the children and those with breathing problems have been evacuated. He said Mathias Colomb residents used to smoke from nearby fires in the summer, but he’s never seen an evacuation in the 11 years he’s lived there.
