Hectic Manitoba wildfire evacuation caused 'unnecessary stress,' evacuee says

A week after a now-massive wildfire broke out in northwestern Manitoba, residents and local officials are still grappling with the financial and emotional burdens caused by the forced evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes.

The fire, just north of Cranberry Portage and east of Flin Flon, was first detected last Thursday. High winds and extremely dry conditions caused it to grow rapidly, forcing the entire community of Cranberry Portage to evacuate Saturday night.

Manitoba Wildfire Service director Earl Simmons told CBC on Wednesday morning that he was "feeling good about the work the fire crews are doing" and was hopeful residents might be able to go back home as early as this weekend. However, the province said Wednesday afternoon there's no estimated return date for the roughly 580 evacuees.

The fire was still about 1 ½ kilometres from Cranberry Portage as of Wednesday afternoon and about 31,600 hectares in size, or 316 square kilometres, according to the province's latest fire bulletin.

George Brightnose, who fled Cranberry Portage, said he felt "blessed" to get to The Pas safely, but as a pensioner, he struggled to pay for a hotel room once he got there.

"How can you pay upfront when you don't even have money?" Brightnose said. "That was a big issue for me."

Pandora Cummine Furniss and her family were among the last few people to leave Cranberry Portage on Saturday, but she says that's because local officials never told them they had to.

"If it hadn't been for our neighbours and friends, we wouldn't have known that there was an evacuation order," she told CBC News Network on Wednesday.

"We didn't have a clear message, and so others had heard at this concert, others had an RCMP member come to their door and tell them to leave, and others were told they had 20 minutes."

The rural municipality of Kelsey, which includes Cranberry Portage, has started posting information and resources for evacuees on Facebook. Cummine Furniss says getting that information was challenging in the "pretty crucial" 24 hours following the evacuation.

"I think there was a lot of unnecessary stress that people went through, and I think it could have been avoided, because there is a history of fire up in the north and the community has gone through it."

The province stepped in with financial support on Monday, said Lori Forbes, the municipal emergency co-ordinator for the region.

But many evacuees faced upfront costs for hotels and other necessities through the weekend.

"That has to come out of everyone's pocket until the province kicks in, and so that cost on people for 72 hours is extreme," Forbes said Tuesday.