Note: This story is a live file and will be updated as new information arrives. This story was last updated at midnight 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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It's official. The mandatory evacuation order for the City of Flin Flon, which went into effect three weeks ago, could be lifted June 25 if the fire doesn't grow further.
In an update issued Thursday night by the City of Flin Flon, local leaders said that, pending weather over the weekend, critical services will be ready to resume community duties as of next week. Skeleton crews will cover other jobs within the area.
"The mandatory evacuation order is currently expected to be lifted on June 25 at 9 a.m., barring unexpected fire behaviour between now and then," reads the statement.
There have not been updates from either the Town of Creighton, Northern Village of Denare Beach or nearby cabin areas about whether they may also reopen next Wednesday. An update provided by the Little Athapap Cottage Association Thursday afternoon included a statement that Creighton would be allowing people back home, but the Town of Creighton itself later denied the report, saying the evacuation order was still in effect. As of midnight Friday, neither Creighton nor Denare Beach local leadership has announced plans to return - The Reminder has reached out to local leaders and will share whatever information comes.
Deputy mayor Alison Dallas-Funk announced the potential reopening Thursday night in a video posted to the City's official social media channels.
"After some discussion with Manitoba Wildfire Service and unified command, we've made our dates and our final decision on our re-entry plan, based on the fire activity and behaviour as of late," said Dallas-Funk.
"When we're talking about this, we project three to five days with unified command's recommendations. This is where the plans and the dates come from."
The evacuation order for Flin Flon being lifted hinges on many factors - the fire affecting the area cannot spread too far or too close to town and weather conditions need to break Flin Flon's way. While the weather is a key part of the plan, the human factors are so far advancing on schedule.
In the video, Dallas-Funk shares an image of a whiteboard at the City's base, showing different stages of emergency response and dates. According to what's written on the whiteboard, several parameters of the City's re-entry plan are up to date - RCMP are back and working in the community, along with emergency medical services and paramedics, ambulance support and the City's public works, including the water and waste treatment systems. The Flin Flon Clinic and Dr. Caitlyn Davidson Meyer are predicted to be back at work Friday, while emergency room service at Flin Flon General Hospital is expected to reopen June 21.
The only remaining hurdle for this stage of reopening is availability of the Flin Flon Fire Department - after weeks fighting the blaze with partners from across Manitoba and from elsewhere in Canada and the U.S., one fire team will be brought back into town, with relief coming in from other communities.
"It wasn't based on time, it was based on condition and we needed that safety envelope," said Dallas-Funk about the City's re-entry plan.
"We need to reestablish critical services - fire department, RCMP, EMS, emergency room, the clinic and our public works, water treatment plant and wastewater, we needed all of those boxes checked. We actually have all of them checked except for fire department, but by June 21 we should be able to keep one of our fire teams in town, so that then helps us with that critical service box checked."
Next up is opening up and maintaining essential services, like hydro, telephone and internet access, grocery stores and places to eat, fuel stations, pharmacies and the like. The City, Dallas-Funk said, is anticipating those to be on-line by June 22.
"We're hoping by June 22, which is Sunday, that we will have a skeleton crew and some of those businesses in place. Hydro is fully functioning - so is our cell communication, fully functioning. We will have pharmacy here. We do have a gas station," she said.
There is one caveat - groceries in the area may be more scarce than normal. While employees have come up north to work in stores, shipments of goods, groceries and food have been hard to get into town.
"I need to tell you that the grocery stores, especially Co-op, will be on limited service. They will only have so much product in, but still enough that we feel comfortable going on to the secondary support business, which we did," Dallas-Funk said.
People with secondary businesses like hardware stores, restaurants, mail delivery, shipping and others are now being called back to town, with Dallas-Funk saying she hopes people are able to come back over the weekend.
"We're hoping they will start coming to the community tomorrow and Saturday and Sunday, then by Monday, most of our services for stores should be up and running to some extent," she said.
Once services are going and businesses are back on-line, roads into and out of Flin Flon will reopen, with further updates available through media partners and official channels. A welcome centre will be set up for people coming in Wednesday and later through the week at the Whitney Forum - and during an emergency meeting Monday, if all goes well, city councillors will plan to lift the evacuation order, effective at 9 a.m. June 25.
"Please be careful. The highways are going to be extremely busy. Also, please bring some essentials with you, if you can," said Dallas-Funk.
Without full medical services available to start and fire conditions still sometimes unpredictable, people with medical conditions or who require frequent care may have to stay away for a while after the community re-entry starts.
"I need to really stress to the community that we do not have full health services at this point. We only have limited access to the ER and to Dr. Davidson Meyer's clinic. That being said, if you require X-rays, medical care such as dialysis, we will not have those services for a while. If that's something that you need, you might want to consider delaying your return," she said.
Buses will be coming back up north from down south, though where from and when they will run has not yet been announced. More information on the return is expected to be announced early next week by the City.
Dallas-Funk said the community will not be at 100 per cent operation when people come back, but that Flin Flon will be back to full health in time.
"We're really glad to give our community this information, but please advise that not everything will be up and running 100 per cent and we need to be patient about that and mindful and bring with you what you can for those folks that won't have the ability to do that," she said.
"We are trying to get a whole wellness centre together so we'll have public health, mental health services there, as well as hygiene kits, cleaning kits and some food available for the community. We're working in partnership with the food bank, with the Northern Neighbours Foundation and with Second Harvest."
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