Manitoba·UpdatedThompson, Manitoba’s largest northern city, has declared a state of emergency Monday on the heels of numerous wildfires that have forced about half a dozen communities to evacuate in recent days — with Leaf Rapids residents hurrying to get out.Manitoba now at 235 fires in 2025, exceeding average for this time of year of 187, province saysBryce Hoye · CBC News · Posted: Jul 07, 2025 12:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes agoSmoke billows from a fire near Leaf Rapids, Man. The community of about 350 is under a mandatory evacuation order Monday, and residents have until Tuesday at 10 a.m. to get out. (Submitted by Ervin Bighetty)Thompson, Manitoba’s largest northern city, has declared a state of emergency Monday on the heels of numerous wildfires that have forced about half a dozen communities to evacuate in recent days — with Leaf Rapids residents hurrying to get out.Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister of the Conservation Officer Service and the Manitoba Wildfire Service, said Monday that there are 81 active fires in the province right now, many caused by recent lightning strikes. “When lightning strikes, it can take three to five days, sometimes even longer, for that smoke to pop up,” Hayward said during a provincial wildfire update in Winnipeg on Monday. “More forecasted on the horizon, unfortunately.”There’s been a total of 235 fires so far in 2025, far surpassing the 20-year average for this time of year of 187, said Hayward.The Town of Leaf Rapids declared a local state of emergency Monday and told its residents they have 24 hours to get out of the northern community, about 155 kilometres northwest of Thompson, in a Facebook post Monday morning.The population of Leaf Rapids was about 350 people in the 2021 census. As of Monday, over 300 people from the town had registered with evacuation services, Hayward said.”Tension has been building,” Ervin Bighetty, general manager of the Co-op in Leaf Rapids, told CBC News on Monday.Leaf Rapids residents join the roughly 6,600 Manitobans that remain evacuated from their home communities due to wildfires, said Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization. That’s compared to about 22,000 evacuated at the peak.A nearly month-long provincewide state of emergency was declared at the end of May. That order was lifted two weeks ago, thanks to overall improving provincial conditions.There are several local states of emergency in place right now, and six communities have been evacuated: the town of Lynn Lake, Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Wallis Lake Cottage Association, Marcel Colomb First Nation, Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and parts of Nopiming Provincial Park.Hayward said the Leila Soccer Complex in Winnipeg is reopening to evacuees and will become a registration centre Tuesday morning. Preparations are also underway for it to accommodate evacuees as a congregate shelter if need be.Eyes on fires near ThompsonEvacuees from Lynn Lake arrive at the Brandon Municipal Airport on Friday. The northern Manitoba town’s 600 residents were ordered to leave Thursday night. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)Lynn Lake, a community of 600, emptied out on Friday after a mandatory evacuation order. They boarded buses and planes and have mostly settled at hotels in Brandon.That was the second time the community, about 800 kilometres north of Brandon, had to be evacuated in a little over a month. About 115 kilometres northeast of Thompson, at least seven houses were razed by flames that spread quickly amid heavy winds in Tataskweyak on Friday, chief and council said in a social media post on Saturday.The photo of the fire near Tataskweyak Cree Nation was posted on social media by Coun. Ivan Keeper on Sunday. (Ivan Keeper/Facebook)A fire burning north of Thompson has that city on edge, and Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, about 65 kilometres to the west, called a local state of emergency Sunday.The fire threatening Thompson started on Friday and was about seven hectares in size when discovered that morning. By Sunday evening it had grown to 6,000 hectares, Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook said on Monday morning.Hours later Monday, Thompson city council voted to declare a state of local emergency, effective until Aug. 6. In a post on Facebook, the city said it was a precautionary measure to give the municipality the power to act fast should conditions worsen.Hayward said Thompson is not in “immediate danger” over the coming days due to resources on the ground keeping the blaze at bay.WATCH | Manitoba wildfire update for July 7:Officials with Manitoba’s wildfire and emergency management provide an update on the province’s current situation on Monday. There are no evacuations happening for the city of roughly 13,000, but Smook has advised residents to gas up their vehicles and to pack medications, food and other necessities, in case they have to suddenly leave.Should that happen, “it’ll be a big ordeal,” Smook said.The flames were most recently about eight kilometres away from the city, and heavy machinery was being used to create fire breaks, Smook said. More firefighting crews arrived Sunday night from Winnipeg to help.Some of them are working to ensure the airport is safe and accessible, said Smook.”We’ve got very little wind this week, but you know, come the end of the week, it could be a different story,” she said.Smook urged residents to pay attention to the City of Thompson’s Facebook page.A road closure sign and pylons block road access into Leaf Rapids on Monday. (Submitted by Ervin Bighetty)Bighetty is helping co-ordinate local emergency firefighting services in Leaf Rapids.”People are wondering what’s going on and people are getting annoyed that they don’t know more stuff…. I get that feeling,” Bighetty said. “But a lot of that is contingency so that people are not panicking.”The Leaf Rapids Facebook notice advises people needing help exiting the community to contact the town office.Buses are scheduled to leave at Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and everyone must be out by 10 a.m.The provincial government is helping to secure hotel accommodations for evacuees in Winnipeg, but some Leaf Rapids residents may need to stay in a congregate shelter at first.Find the latest wildfire information at these sources: Canadian wildfire map Province of Manitoba fire bulletins CBC’s wildfire tracker Communities under evacuations in Manitoba Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@findhelp.ca.ABOUT THE AUTHORBryce Hoye is a multi-platform journalist with a background in wildlife biology. He has worked for CBC Manitoba for over a decade with stints producing at CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and Front Burner. He was a 2024-25 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is also Prairie rep for outCBC. He has won a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for a 2017 feature on the history of the fur trade, and a 2023 Prairie region award for an audio documentary about a Chinese-Canadian father passing down his love for hockey to the next generation of Asian Canadians.Email: bryce.hoye@cbc.caTwitterFacebookMore by Bryce HoyeWith files from Meaghan Ketcheson
Leaf Rapids evacuates as Manitoba’s largest northern city Thompson declares state of emergency amid wildfires
