Note: This story is a live file and will be updated as new information arrives. This story was last updated at 10 a.m. Friday.
Staff members from The Reminder have evacuated Flin Flon, but will keep writing updates as long as possible during the emergency. If you have questions or concerns you would like us to chase or add here about the fire, evacuations or anything else, please notify us at [email protected].
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People from two northern communities will be able to head home Saturday morning. Flin Flon is not yet one of them, but a weekend full of rain could possibly help.
Snow Lake
Snow Lake's local leadership lifted the community's mandatory evacuation order early Friday, saying people could head back to town as early as Saturday morning.
"Council met this morning and upon advice from our EMO team, rescinded the mandatory evacuation order for the Town of Snow Lake effective June 14 at 8 a.m." reads the statement from local mayor and council.
Snow Lake was one of the last communities in the region to issue evacuation notices, first doing a voluntary one June 3, followed by a mandatory one June 6. Part of the same northern fire complex that has threatened Flin Flon, Creighton and other communities grew out toward Snow Lake last week, but thanks to wetter weather and firefighting efforts, the fire's growth appears to have been stopped about 30 kilometres north of town.
Locals have been asked to stock up on groceries before coming, as most stores in the community are either not open or have not received recent shipments and food left in the fridge before people left may not be edible now. People are asked to also pack up all belongings, pets, medications or other essentials, but to ensure that an emergency kit or "bug out bag" is still packed in the future just in case the situation worsens.
Snow Lake's Town Office is also anticipated to be closed to the public June 16 while local officials catch up on correspondence and calls received during the evacuation.
Sherridon
Good news also came late Thursday for residents of Sherridon. Those who evacuated the community will also be able to head home, also starting June 14 at 8 a.m. The mandatory evacuation order for the area has also been lifted, this time by the provincial northern affairs branch of the Department of Municipal and Northern Relations.
Residents are asked to also pack up all important belongings and pick up groceries along the way, while being asked to deal with possible water in homes near the fire front, debris on properties, spoiled food in fridges and freezers and unused water lines - all people returning home are asked to run all house taps for five minutes to flush them out.
Sherridon was one of the first northern Manitoba communities to issue an evacuation notice, doing so back on May 25 - locals who evacuated the area have been out of their homes for almost four weeks, most of them going to hotels and shelter space in Dauphin. The fire that threatened Sherridon has since joined the northern Manitoba fire complex, but like the rest of the area affected, the blaze hasn't seen significant growth in the area in days.
Road closures in the region have not yet been fully updated to allow for Sherridon and Cranberry Portage residents to make it home. According to Manitoba 511 as of Friday morning, Highway 10 is still closed north of the junction at Fiddler's Corner and Highway 39, but Cranberry Portage residents are also anticipated to be returning this weekend.
Flin Flon
While other northern communities are slowly making their way back home, Flin Flon isn't just yet. The City's re-opening plan is including a phased-in approach to try and make sure vital services can start as soon as people get back - while it may stave off issues that could come up on return, it also will add more time to the comeback clock.
In an update issued late Thursday, Flin Flon deputy mayor Alison Dallas-Funk said that progress is still being made in fighting the fires and the City's re-opening plan is continuing. Part of the re-opening plan includes talks with the Northern Health Region (NHR) to reopen both Flin Flon General Hospital and its other local facilities, including the Flin Flon Personal Care Home and Northern Lights Manor - residents from those two facilities were evacuated early May 28 and moved throughout Manitoba and Saskatchewan wherever care beds were available.
"We started a conversation with the health region and asked to reinstate some of our health care services that we require to have community. Moving forward, we're hoping to get some answers for from them as soon as possible," said Dallas-Funk in the update.
As of Friday morning, sources have informed The Reminder that several key personnel with the NHR had not yet been called back to the Flin Flon area nor informed that they needed to make their way home.
Another part was to bring back workers for critical businesses, bringing them back before the rest of the public to make sure Flin Flon doesn't suffer shortages or supply issues when people eventually get back.
"Along the line with our re-entry plan that we spoke about yesterday was identifying critical businesses to come into the community. We did that today as well - we have a list of the critical businesses that we think are important to have community members start to come back. We are in the process of contacting them," said Dallas-Funk, saying city councillor Judy Eagle was tasked with that work.
"From there, they will be allowed to come into the community with some guidelines and regulations and clean their properties or see what they need to be able to be open and ready for community. That is a positive note as well."
Isolated hotspots were reported with the fire late Thursday and early Friday, most of which were located on the Saskatchewan side of the fire - some on the west shore of Amisk Lake, with others found south of part of the Hanson Lake Road. Neither area is located close to homes or existing communities.
Weather
The forecast for the next week looks good for northerners - Environment Canada and other weather services are each predicting a weekend of rain for the region.
Environment Canada is predicting a sunny day in the area around Flin Flon Friday, but rain starting Friday night with a 60 per cent chance of showers. That rain is expected to continue, in at least some form, until late Monday afternoon.
Other monitoring services also have rain in the forecast for Flin Flon and the surrounding region - The Weather Network has rain forecasted from Friday through to Monday morning, while AccuWeather, the Weather Underground and the Weather Channel each have rain in the forecast through Saturday and Sunday.
According to Natural Resources Canada data, the area in and around Flin Flon currently has a "low" to "medium" fire danger level as of Friday morning.
This week's issue of The Reminder is both online-only and free - you can read it in its entirety here.
