Latest news with #ColleenSmook
CTV News
19 hours ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Thompson Mayor says the wildfire smoke is the city's biggest concern right now
Thompson Mayor says the wildfire smoke is the city's biggest concern right now Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook warns of heavy wildfire smoke, poor air quality, and possible evacuations as fires threaten the area.
CBC
2 days ago
- Climate
- CBC
Thompson mayor urges unregistered wildfire evacuees to stay away as city faces possible evacuation
Social Sharing Thompson's mayor is urging wildfire evacuees who aren't registered to stay in the northern Manitoba city not to show up there, saying that could lead to problems if the city is evacuated. "We're definitely requesting that evacuees from other communities that are to be elsewhere, that they please do that," Mayor Colleen Smook said Friday morning. "It's very important that we don't, you know, have extra evacuees in town at this time." Smook said Friday that firefighters continue to hold back an out-of-control blaze that, as of Friday, was burning just 14 kilometres from the city, which is home to approximately 13,000 residents. She said although there has been progress on that wildfire lately due to firefighters' efforts and more favourable weather conditions, all it would take is a change in wind direction to push it toward the city and force everyone out. "Even though the situation, you know, looks pretty good right now, at any time if the winds change, it could change — then they would be evacuated from Thompson," said Smook. The mayor says in the decades she has lived in Thompson, the city has never experienced a full evacuation. That has her worried some might assume it won't happen this summer either. "I think people are having a hard time understanding that there is a possibility of Thompson being evacuated, because it hasn't happened in my 53 years here," Smook said. Smook says she fears having more people than expected in the city, and not enough buses to get everyone out, if an evacuation is called. Currently, there are approximately 200 registered evacuees in the city, she said. Most are staying in hotels, as there are no congregate shelters set up in Thompson, and that has the hotel rooms filling up in the city. That's also a concern, said Smook, because there are hotel rooms held for those who are in the city from out of town to help fight the fires. The city may even be forced to find ways to get those rooms, she said. "We've actually issued our state of emergency," Smook said. "We do have the ability to claim rooms where we need them." Last week, Thompson city council voted to declare a state of local emergency due to the wildfire threats, and residents have been warned to continue preparing for the possibility the city could be evacuated at any time. Smook says she has reached out to the Canadian Red Cross with her concerns regarding unregistered evacuees in the city.
Winnipeg Free Press
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Thompson mayor ‘cautiously optimistic,' but evacuation plans continue as fire rages
Favourable weather is helping crews fight an out-of-control wildfire just north of Thompson, where officials are pressing ahead with preparations in case some residents are forced to flee. The roughly 6,000-hectare fire has not grown by much since the weekend, Mayor Colleen Smook said Tuesday, while more firefighters arrived from across Manitoba. 'Things are going pretty good. We've got a lot of crews,' Smook said. 'The fire is holding, and we're cautiously optimistic.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES The Manitoba Wildfire Service reported 81 active fires as of Monday afternoon. Winds were blowing from the southwest ahead of a cold front. The south side of the blaze, which is about 15 kilometres north of Thompson, is the priority for firefighting efforts. Thompson declared a state of local emergency as a precaution Monday. More than 300 residents of Leaf Rapids, meanwhile, were required to leave the northwestern Manitoba town by 10 a.m. Tuesday, when a mandatory evacuation order went into effect. Some are making the roughly 975-kilometre journey to Winnipeg by bus. A soccer complex on Leila Avenue reopened as an evacuee reception centre Tuesday. It can be used as a congregate shelter, if hotel rooms are not readily available for evacuees. The fire north of Thompson is more than three times the size of northern Manitoba's largest city, which has a land area of 1,662 hectares. The blaze, caused by lightning, rapidly spread after it was detected Friday. Firefighters have arrived or are on their way from communities such as The Pas, Opaskweyak Cree Nation, Winkler, Morden, Altona, Morris and St. Jean Baptiste. Smook said Manitoba Hydro crews from across the province have also arrived. Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Wildfire Service, said Monday that Thompson isn't expected to be in immediate danger over the next couple of days, at least, based on the current conditions, the work that is being done and the weather forecast. Helicopters with buckets were dumping water on hot spots where the fire crossed the Burntwood River. Bulldozers were moving earth to create fire guards around the blaze. Trees and vegetation were being cleared around Thompson's airport, a pumping station, a wastewater treatment plant, the north side of the Millennium Trail along the river, and a heavy industrial area and train station. Sprinklers were set up at the airport, Mystery Mountain Winter Park, Thompson Golf Club and horse stables. Smook said the province has been supportive in efforts to send essential workers to Thompson. Residents were told to keep their vehicles fuelled up and prepare an evacuation bag containing clothes, medications, food and other essentials, in case they have to leave on short notice. They will be asked to register within a day or two to give officials an idea of how many would require transportation or accommodation if an evacuation occurred, Smook said. 'It's just precautionary,' she said. Smook asked Manitobans to avoid non-essential travel to Thompson, which is a hub for communities across northern Manitoba. 'If Thompson goes down, you're not just moving 15,000 people. You're taking away essential services for 70,000 people in the North,' Smook said. It would be one of Manitoba's largest individual evacuations in recent memory. Finding hotel rooms for all of the city's evacuees would be difficult, Smook said. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom. 'Manitoba has no room for us. Winnipeg is full, Brandon is full,' she said. 'We'd be talking about other provinces and maybe the United States.' Provincial staff were looking at hotel options within and outside Manitoba in case at least parts of Thompson have to evacuate, Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization, said Monday. The Manitoba Wildfire Service reported 81 active fires as of Monday afternoon. Most were in the North, with lightning to blame for dozens of new starts since late June. Environment and Climate Change Canada issued an air quality warning for parts of eastern and northern Manitoba, including Thompson, due to heavy smoke. A special air quality statement was in place for a wider area, including Winnipeg. Chris KitchingReporter Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris. Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
07-07-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Manitoba emergency officials to give wildfire update at 12:45 p.m.
Social Sharing Emergency officials are set to give an update on wildfires in Manitoba, after at least seven homes in Tataskweyak Cree Nation burned on Friday and the largest city in the province's north was placed on evacuation watch. CBC Manitoba will livestream the 12:45 p.m. news conference here and on CBC Gem. The Town of Leaf Rapids has declared a local state of emergency and told its residents they have 24 hours to get out of the northern community, about 155 kilometres northwest of Thompson, in a Facebook post Monday morning. The population of Leaf Rapids was about 350 people in the 2021 census. About 115 kilometres northeast of Thompson, at least seven houses were razed by flames that spread quickly amid heavy winds in Tataskweyak on Friday, chief and council said in a social media post on Saturday. Meanwhile, a fire burning north of Thompson has that city on edge, and Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, about 65 kiloimetres to the west, called a local state of emergency Sunday. The fire threatening Thompson started on Friday and was about seven hectares in size when discovered that morning. By Sunday evening it had grown to 6,000 hectares, Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook said on Monday morning. As of now, there are no evacuations happening for the city of roughly 13,000, but Smook has advised residents to gas up their vehicles and to pack medications, food and other necessities, in case they have to suddenly leave. Should that happen, "it'll be a big ordeal," Smook said. "We don't have the capacity to put everybody through the gas stations at once," she said. The flames were most recently about eight kilometres away from the city, and heavy machinery was being used to create fire breaks, Smook said. More firefighting crews arrived Sunday night from Winnipeg to help. Some of them are working to ensure the airport is safe and accessible, she said. "We are very lucky that it's not tracking to the city, with our wind at the moment. We've got very little wind this week, but you know, come the end of the week, it could be a different story," she said. "There's no need to panic at this time, but yet there is a preparedness that we are trying to push through." City authorities and emergency personnel are having regular meetings, with the next one planned for early Monday afternoon, Smook said. She urged residents to pay attention to the City of Thompson's Facebook page. "We'll keep everybody updated on just what they need to do." Manitoba lifted a provincewide state of emergency two weeks ago amid improving conditions overall, though several communities that remained on high alert have been forced to leave over the past week — some for the second time since the end of May. Lynn Lake emptied out on Friday after a mandatory evacuation order, about five weeks after the community of 600 originally emptied out, amid a fresh wildfire threat. They boarded buses and planes and have mostly settled at hotels in Brandon.
Winnipeg Free Press
06-07-2025
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Thompson residents ready to flee as wildfire rages
The leader of a northern Manitoba community was advising residents to keep their vehicles ready Sunday as a wildfire raged outside the city. A new wildfire started about eight kilometres outside of Thompson on Friday. At 11 a.m. it was seven hectares; nine hours later it had grown to 3,000 hectares. The wildfire is burning past the Thompson Airport on Highway 280. On Sunday, the City of Thompson updated residents throughout the day on its Facebook page. Winds had died down overnight in the area and relative humidity had also dropped, the city reported. Heavy equipment was repositioned to create new fire guard lines southwest of the fire lines near Mystery Lake and air assets were working the fire lines to prevent spread to the south. While conditions have been favourable since the wildfire started, the city underscored that the situation remains 'very serious' and advised residents to be prepared 'for all potential scenarios. The Facebook post included a link to a Government of Canada webpage that included information about wildfire preparedness. 'I've been putting the message out for people to keep their vehicles gassed up,' Mayor Colleen Smook told the Free Press Sunday afternoon. 'Pre-evacuation planning is very important without panicking the people.' The city is home to 13,000 people, per the 2021 census. Smook noted that in the 53 years she's called Thompson home, the city has never been evacuated. 'I've been putting the message out for people to keep their vehicles gassed up. Pre-evacuation planning is very important without panicking the people.'– Thompson mayor Colleen Smook The provincial emergency management organization and wildfire service have joined local firefighters to battle the blaze, Smook said. 'I'm cautiously optimistic because the plans are working so far,' she said. 'We have a great team from Thompson leading (the effort) and getting the support coming up (from southern Manitoba) gives you another level of confidence that we're doing all we can.' Meanwhile, more than 140 kilometres away from Thompson, firefighters continued to battle a blaze in Tataskweyak Cree Nation (also known as Split Lake). The fire started northwest of the community on Friday and spread quickly due to strong winds. It destroyed seven homes in a day that the chief and council of the First Nation described as 'horrendous.' During a livestream on Facebook that started Saturday around 10 p.m., Chief Doreen Spence expressed her condolences. 'To the families that lost their homes, I want to say I'm really sorry,' she said. 'We'll be here for you guys.' A large fire near Tataskweyak has been burning since late May and has been listed as out-of-control by Manitoba's Natural Resources department for most of that time. It briefly changed to being held for a few days at the end of June before switching back to out-of-control. 'I know being away longer is not the news you wanted to hear, but it's for your safety.'– Tataskweyak Cree Nation chief Doreen Spence Tataskweyak declared a state of emergency on May 29 and an evacuation order was issued the next day. The return of Tataskweyak residents was to start in mid-June, but was delayed due to a malfunctioning water treatment plant. Spence noted the emotional toll the last few months have taken on community members. 'I know being away longer is not the news you wanted to hear, but it's for your safety,' she said. Elsewhere in the province, the Town of Leaf Rapids posted on its Facebook page around 10 a.m. Sunday that an evacuation was 'likely expected' and might be called 'with 10 hours or less notice.' Two out-of-control fires burned nearby — one southwest of Leaf Rapids and the other east of the town. 'Wildfire Services and the Office of the Fire Commissioner… will be reviewing the weather forecast to further consider the likelihood of threat to the town,' the Facebook post read. 'Arrangements related to evacuation are taking place in preparation. Further notice will be provided to residents as it becomes available.' In a fire bulletin issued Friday afternoon, the province reported that the southern and very northern areas of the province have a low-to-moderate fire danger level. The west and northeast areas have a high-to-very-high danger level, with some pockets of extreme fire danger. Related Articles Seven homes destroyed by fire on Manitoba First Nation, community's leadership says Lynn Lake evacuees begin arriving in Brandon Lynn Lake evacuated second time as flames threaten power lines Members of First Nation in northern Ontario to return home after wildfire evacuations Lynn Lake orders evacuation as wildfire threatens power Lightning sparks dozens of new blazes in Manitoba Flin Flon residents debriefed on fire fight, warned to 'keep a bag packed' Fireboats as a tool to fight fires in the boreal forest Manitoba to lift travel, burn restrictions Friday Keeping fur babies fed in a fire zone Homesickness sets in for northern evacuees waiting it out in Winnipeg Exhausted, relieved Flin Floners return to spoiled food, neglected lawns after month-long wildfire evacuation While fire and travel restrictions have been lifted for most of the province, travel permits are required for travel within an active fire boundary, the bulletin noted. Manitoba has been experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in recent years, and about 21,000 people were forced to flee their homes in June. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. The Canadian Red Cross told the Free Press in an email on Sunday that it is providing support to people from Lynn Lake, Marcel Colomb First Nation, Pimicikamak Cree Nation, O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, Tataskweyak Cree Nation and Mathias Colomb Cree Nation. The Red Cross is providing impacted people with registration, reception and information, emergency accommodations, meals and personal services, as well as co-ordinating air transportation, according to spokesperson Jason Small. 'The Red Cross will continue to work closely with Indigenous leadership, the community and governments as the situation evolves,' Small wrote. — with files from the Canadian Press Aaron EppReporter Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. He was previously the associate editor at Canadian Mennonite. Read more about Aaron. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
