A forest fire north of Flin Flon is now classified as “under control” by Manitoba Sustainable Development and “contained” by Saskatchewan Wildfire Management.
The fire received those classifications on August 21, three weeks after it was first reported. The fire is about 17 kilometres north of Flin Flon, north of Kisseynew Lake. It was still burning as of Monday afternoon but was not considered likely to grow.
According to the BlueSky Canada smoke monitoring system, the Flin Flon-Creighton area is likely to experience intermittent periods of thick smoke over the coming days. The forecast shows smoke from fires in northern Saskatchewan coming toward the area Monday and Tuesday, with conditions likely to ease up by Wednesday morning.
Across the border, Saskatchewan Wildfire Management classified three fires as “not contained” within 80 kilometres of the Flin Flon-Creighton area.
The largest of these fires started near Granite Lake on August 5 and had expanded to 25,000 hectares as of Monday afternoon. At its closest point, the fire was within 30 kilometres of Flin Flon and within 15 kilometres of Pelican Narrows.
Another fire, located on the north shore of Jan Lake, had reached a size of 6,100 hectares and was “not contained,” according to Saskatchewan Wildfire Management. The fire is located about 15 kilometres south of Pelican Narrows at its closest point.
The third “not contained” fire was located near the junction of Highway 106 and 135. Wildfire Management listed the fire’s size as 2.5 hectares and stated it was started by humans.
Wildfire Management was watching two other large fires in northern Saskatchewan.
One blaze, located near Namew Lake near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, had been classified as being under “ongoing assessment.” The fire was 4,601 hectares and was within ten kilometres of the First Nations community of Sturgeon Landing.
Another fire northwest of Pelican Narrows had grown to 7,584 hectares as of Monday afternoon. Wildfire Management listed the status on the fire as “protecting values.”
The situation was less severe in northwestern Manitoba, with no major fires deemed “out of control” near Flin Flon, The Pas or Snow Lake. One fire burning near Eager Lake in northern Manitoba was considered “out of control” and was more than 7,500 hectares, but it was not burning near populated areas.
An evacuation order for the community of Birch Portage, about 50 kilometres west of Flin Flon, was called on Aug. 25 and remains in effect as of Monday afternoon. No other evacuation orders or warnings have been issued for any area within 250 kilometres of Flin Flon.
