Smoke rises from a wildfire as seen off Granite Park Road in Lac Du Bonnet, Man., on May 13.Manitoba RCMP/Reuters
Two people have been killed in a wildfire near Lac du Bonnet in eastern Manitoba after dangerous conditions prevented emergency personnel from reaching a man and woman trapped in the blaze, according to RCMP.
Superintendent Chris Hastie, commander of Manitoba RCMP’s East District, said authorities learned on Tuesday that people may be trapped, but police were unable to reach the area until Wednesday morning, when the two bodies were discovered.
“This has been an incredibly challenging time for the community, and no doubt today’s tragic news will make it even more difficult,” said Supt. Hastie at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.
Police have not released the identities of the victims and autopsies are pending, but Supt. Hastie said it’s believed they died of injuries sustained from the fire.
The bodies were recovered from an area near Lac du Bonnet, a riverside town 115 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, where wildfires that started on Tuesday forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 people. Around 3,000 hectares have now burned in that wildfire.
Supt. Hastie added that there are no other reports of people missing in the wildfire zone.
Loren Schinkel, reeve of the rural municipality of Lac du Bonnet, said the deaths are a tragic event for the rural region, which is filled with cottages and cabins.
“We’re a very close-knit community here,” Mr. Schinkel said at the news conference. “The families, friends and loved ones that have been impacted by this have our profound sympathies.”
Manitoba has been dealing with an early fire season that has been scorching the province’s southeast, where temperatures have reached the mid-30s this week.
As of Wednesday, there were 24 active wildfires in Manitoba. Five provincial parks, three local authorities, three northern affairs communities and 24 cottage subdivisions have issued mandatory evacuation orders and six “States of Local Emergency” have been declared.
“We’re not seeing a typical fire season any more,” said Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister for the Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service. Her comments were part of a provincial update provided earlier Wednesday.
Normally, the province is used to mostly grass fires this early in the season, but now there are large powerful fires more than a month earlier than usual, she said.
At Bird River, near Nopiming Provincial Park, close to 100,000 hectares are burning. The province is also closely monitoring a 20,000-hectare fire near the Ontario border.
Liberty and David Des Roches-Dueck were two of the people forced to flee, abandoning their lake resort that’s been in the family since 1979. The couple first noticed the fires on Tuesday, when they saw plumes of smoke along the Ontario border. By the afternoon, they were being evacuated to their home in Winnipeg.
“It’s our biggest fear. Of all the things that could have happened, I have been waiting for this to happen,” said Ms. Des Roches-Dueck.
As fires raged nearby at Nopiming and at South Atikaki Provincial Park, Joe Hnatishin was told yesterday morning that he had to evacuate from Wallace Lake Lodge and Outposts by noon.
Mr. Hnatishin said there was little time to respond.
“We got all of our sprinklers engaged on all the cabins and our fire water pump down by the lake,” he said.
“The fires are out of control. From the current fire map, the fires are only about three miles away.”
Mr. Hnatishin has been through wildfires in previous years, but he said this year seems worse because of high winds and the dry hot climate.
The 2023 and 2024 wildfire seasons were notably destructive. Some experts have been hesitant to predict how this year’s season will play out, but those in charge of fighting them say conditions are eerily similar to previous years.
Alexandria Jones, acting communications manager for the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, said the past two seasons were unusually devastating, and crews this year are prepared for the worst.
“I think everyone is coming out of those years more prepared than perhaps we were in the past,” she said. “That being said there’s only so much you can do to prepare, so we prepare our fire crews across the country, we resource up, we learn from fire years, and then it’s really kind of up to mother nature in a sense.”
Ms. Jones said preparation is key for people living in areas prone to wildfire. She said removing flammable materials near your residence can be the difference between saving your home and losing it.
Bryan Chartrand, executive director of land operations for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, said firefighting efforts have controlled five of that provinces eight large fires. But as parts of the province hit temperatures of 33 degrees, Mr. Chartrand said the season is just beginning.
Meanwhile, in Alberta and British Columbia, several fires were sparked during periods of high temperatures earlier this month, but have calmed down thanks to improved weather.
According to live maps from the provincial fire agencies, B.C. has controlled 19 of its 28 active fires, but has no fires requiring significant and immediate response. Alberta currently has one out-of-control fire, but cooler temperatures and patches of rain are in the forecast.