Note: This story is a live file and will be updated as new information arrives. This story was last updated at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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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Firefighting efforts are still ongoing near Flin Flon and Creighton. No structures have burned in either community as of Tuesday, but the fire is posing new and varied threats to the area, forcing firefighters to get creative.
According to Natural Resources Canada mapping and data, few marked hotspots have been reported with the northern fire over the past week. However, updates from the City of Flin Flon and fire crews working on scene with infrared drones show a different story.
“Currently, in the Channing and Mandy Mine area, we have infrared scanning that was done overnight - they’re looking for hot spots that could potentially be a dangerous area for re-ignition, which would allow access for the fire to go right towards Flin Flon,” said Flin Flon Fire Department Chief Jason Kuras in an update shared June 16, showing the data from the scans.
“This whole area was scanned last night - it’s approximately 350 hectares that they scanned… out of that, they found 350 hotspots in there. Currently, we have approximately 40 firefighters in that area, extinguishing the hotspots and making sure they don’t go anywhere.”
The conditions in that area, roughly between Phantom Lake and the northwest arm of Schist Lake, are still dry with lots of fresh vegetation around them - perfect fuel to kickstart a fire. As of Monday night, the fire crews have been able to shut down those hotspots without further burning.
A flare-up was reported Monday near the east shore of Trout Lake, with potential to go toward Big Island Lake - more firefighters were deployed to that area to knock it down, along with water bombers and helicopters. Another fire start was reported just outside Creighton June 15 - helicopters were flown to the area to put it out before it grew, with ground crews coming in to attack it the next day, according to a Town of Creighton update issued June 16. Yet another one was reported near Cranberry Portage, forcing fire crews to head south to take it down.
The infrared scans can only be conducted at night - flying the drones during the day could pose a threat to helicopters or passing water bombers, so the drones are only flown when those are parked.
“It’s a slower process than we would necessarily like, but it will be done,” said Kuras.
In the update, Kuras showed a swath of mostly unburned land between Bakers Narrows and Flin Flon - while almost all the land around Flin Flon and Creighton has burned already, this one strip has remained less affected. That could make it a threat to catch fire, with winds potentially pushing it toward Flin Flon or toward Bakers Narrows.
“This whole area, we are considering it the horseshoe effect - everything from Bakers Narrows to Flin Flon has virtually come full circle, except this area of unburnt,” said Kuras, pointing toward an area north of Lake Athapapuskow.
“Even though the fire was fast and making a great deal of heat and everything, it still left a great deal of vegetation there that could reignite and come back towards us here in Flin Flon. While we're mitigating the risk, while things are going very well and we have the help and support, there's still a great deal of danger that could potentially impact Flin Flon.”
Public works employees, health care workers and employees of businesses considered essential are making their way back to Flin Flon in advance of a full public reopening. No date or time for that reopening has yet been announced.
Size-wise, the fire has stayed mostly stayed pat within its already established perimeter - about 516,000 hectares of land has burned as a result of the fire according to Natural Resources Canada. The fire has become the largest fire in Manitoba’s recent history.
The Northern Village of Denare Beach shared June 16 that water and sewer service, which had been knocked out when the fire ripped through the community earlier last month, had been restored. SaskTel started restoring phone lines earlier in the week, while the same infrared drone technology being used on the Manitoba side has been used to spot extra hotspots around the community.
“Denare Beach continues to attend daily meetings with Creighton and Flin Flon. Flin Flon has begun reinstating essential services within the City and the Flin Flon General Hospital is beginning their restart plan," reads an update from the Village.
Public works employees are still working in the area, conducting safety checks and spot fixes - the community, much like Creighton and Flin Flon, remains evacuated and there is no confirmed time or date for when the order will be lifted. The Village statement states that when a time and date is approved, it will be announced through the Village’s H2Notify alert system and on official social media channels. Roadblocks into town are still both up and manned by police in the meantime.
Manitoba is still under a province-wide state of emergency as a result of the fires and a full burn ban is in place across the entire province - no fires are permitted of any size and no burn permits will be issued. Backcountry travel is prohibited unless travellers have permits.
The restrictions will be in effect as long as the Emergency Measures Act stays in effect - it will stay in place until June 26 at the earliest.
Saskatchewan lifted their province-wide fire ban June 16, citing “recent rainfall and cooler weather” as the reason behind the decision.
“The fire ban will be lifted on all Crown lands, provincial parks and provincial recreation sites located north of the provincial forest boundary up to the Churchill River, along with the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District,” reads the ruling. Both Creighton and Denare Beach have their own municipal fire bans in place, as do most rural municipalities in Saskatchewan - but thanks to the provincial change, it is now technically legal to have a fire almost anywhere in northern Saskatchewan on Crown land or at a park.
As of Wednesday morning, fire danger around the area was listed as mostly “moderate”, with a portion covering Creighton and Denare Beach considered “high”.
School plans
Flin Flon students will not be heading back to school once northern fires and related evacuations are done. The Flin Flon School Division (FFSD) announced Monday it would be closing all schools for summer, effectively ending the school year.
“Due to the ongoing evacuation in our community and the continued uncertainty surrounding the accessibility of our school facilities, we regret to inform you that all schools within FFSD will remain closed for the remainder of the current school year,” reads the FFSD’s announcement, signed off on by superintendent Tammy Ballantyne.
“We are incredibly proud of the strength and resilience shown by our students, families and staff. Though this school year is ending under extraordinary circumstances, we remain committed to supporting our community and our neighbouring communities every step of the way.”
Creighton Community School announced June 7 that they would suspend the remainder of the 2024-25 school year.
"This decision has been made with the health and safety of our students, staff and families as our top priority,” reads the Creighton announcement.
Final grades for each student on both sides of the border will be assessed based on their work as of May 28, the last day of classes before evacuation. In Flin Flon, all high school students who were on track to get credits before the evacuation day getting them. Any students who finish the year short of credits will be able to enroll in courses through the online service InformNet at no charge - fees for the service have been waived for anyone who’s been forced to leave.
Students’ final report cards will be available for pickup at a later date at the FFSD’s offices at 9 Terrace Avenue once people are allowed to return home. Students and teachers will also be able to get their own personal items from schools once the public can return to Flin Flon - a firm date for both the return and for when people can pick those items up hasn’t been announced.
Also seeing changes for this year are graduation ceremonies for Hapnot Collegiate and Many Faces Education Centre. Both schools were supposed to have their ceremonies later this month, but now due to the fire, neither will hold theirs on time.
While the events won’t take place at their normal time, the FFSD and organizers with grad committees have said holding events either later this summer or this fall honouring graduates may still be an option.
“We are deeply sorry that our graduates will not be celebrated as we had planned. We will be celebrating our graduates and all of their accomplishments at a later date,” reads the FFSD’s announcement.
Hapnot grad coordinator Rachel Wright said there are still plans to honour this year’s graduates when possible - something especially pressing since many Class of 2025 students missed out on celebrating their graduation from junior high during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Grad will not go as planned for June 26, but we are working on ideas to still make it happen in some capacity. Grads and parents will be hearing from the grad coordinator this week,” she said.
Hudbay
As Snow Lake reopens to the public, so has Hudbay - the mining company announced it has resumed its operations in the area.
The company officially announced June 16 it was resuming operations at Lalor mine and other facilities after the mandatory evacuation order for Snow Lake was lifted and people were allowed to head home. Hudbay’s facilities in Snow Lake were not damaged by the massive northern fire, which stayed over 30 kilometres from Lalor mine even at its closest point.
Work at Lalor got back going last weekend, while mill activities at New Britannia are expected to ramp back up to full production later this week - the Stall base metal concentrator is expected to ramp up starting next week or potentially later, with many workers there still affected by evacuation orders in place for Flin Flon.
“We remain committed to supporting our Manitoba team and recognize the significant impact this crisis has had on our employees, their families and neighbours and local First Nations,” said Rob Carter, Hudbay’s former Manitoba business unit vice-president and now senior vice-president of Canada operations - Carter earned his new post during the fire and evacuation.
“Thank you to the essential personnel who remained behind, our employees who were part of the volunteer firefighting efforts and all the first responders who have been working tirelessly these last several weeks. We look forward to working with local and provincial authorities on the rebuilding efforts to help our communities move ahead.”
While workers were evacuated from the region, Hudbay announced several initiatives meant to help northern staff members and their families who had been displaced. That included more than $2 million in support funding, with a $500,000 donation to the Canadian Red Cross and $1.6 million in support for Hudbay employees, starting a community relief donations fund, finding places to stay for some workers and their families and sending Hudbay mine rescue workers to help fight the flames.
Company representatives believe Hudbay will still hit annual guidance targets for this year despite being closed for just over a week.
“Given the strong year-to-date performance in Snow Lake, the company continues to expect to achieve its annual guidance metrics for Manitoba in 2025,” reads the June 16 update.
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