Manitoba: Canada’s western province of Manitoba is grappling with one of its worst wildfire seasons in years, prompting the evacuation of more than 17,000 people as fires rage across the region.
Wab Kinew declared a province-wide state of emergency, calling it ‘the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory.’
Premier Kinew confirmed he requested help from Prime Minister Mark Carney, urging the federal government to deploy the Canadian military to support evacuation efforts and fire suppression.
Manitoba has declared a province-wide state of emergency to safely evacuate and shelter 17,000 people — the largest wildfire evacuation in recent memory.
To those leaving home: you’re not alone. These measures protect you. We’ll get through this — together. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/sLSU0X06qt
— Wab Kinew (@WabKinew) May 29, 2025
Military aircraft are set to be deployed imminently to evacuate residents from remote and vulnerable northern communities. Additional firefighting resources are also being mobilized.
The fires, fueled by a prolonged period of hot, dry weather, are part of a wider crisis intensified by climate change, which has led to increasingly frequent and intense wildfires across Canada.
As of now, 134 wildfires are active nationwide, including in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. Roughly half are classified as out of control.
In Manitoba alone, 22 wildfires are currently active. Nearly 200,000 hectares of forest have burned in just the past month, triple the province’s five-year annual average, according to Kirstin Hayward from the Manitoba Wildfire Service. Hayward added that the province currently has the highest fire activity in Canada.
Several communities have already been impacted, including the mining town of Flin Flon, where around 5,000 residents have been told to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
The town, named after a character in a 1905 novel, is surrounded by approaching flames. Residents of nearby towns and Indigenous communities, such as Sherridon, have also been ordered to leave.
Most evacuees are being transported to the Manitoba capital, Winnipeg, where emergency shelters are being set up. Authorities have asked businesses and communities across the province to ‘open your doors’ to help house displaced residents.
In addition, nearly 1,000 people from Lynn Lake and Marcel Colomb First Nation, and 4,000 others from communities in neighboring Saskatchewan, such as Pelican Narrows, were evacuated earlier this week.
Tragically, a firefighter was severely injured by a falling tree while battling the fires and is currently hospitalized. Earlier this month, two people in Lac du Bonnet, northeast of Winnipeg, died after being trapped by another wildfire.
Premier Kinew warned that, unlike previous years, fires are now erupting in every region of the province. Kinew said that this marks a troubling sign of a changing climate that Manitoba and the world must adapt to.
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