Manitoba·UpdatedManitoba’s natural resources minister says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that looming downpours will quench raging wildfires in the province, but warns the province may not have reached the peak of its wildfire season yet this year.About 8,800 Manitoba households remain evacuated due to wildfires, province saysOzten Shebahkeget · CBC News · Posted: Jun 12, 2025 1:45 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes agoThis photo provided by the Manitoba government shows wildfires near Sherridon, Man., on Tuesday, May 27. As of Tuesday, 25 active wildfires are burning in Manitoba, including 10 that are out of control, the province says. (Government of Manitoba)Manitoba’s Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that looming downpours will quench raging wildfires in the province, but warns the province may not have reached the peak of its wildfire season yet this year.While some communities are looking at plans for when they can start bringing evacuees back home, fires continue to burn out of control across the province.As of the end of Wednesday, 25 active wildfires were burning in Manitoba, including nine classified as out of control, the province said.While forecasts of rain make Bushie optimistic, he said storms could lead to more fires.”With the rain, [lightning] sometimes comes too,” he said at a Thursday news conference.A period of cool temperatures has provided some short-term relief, but areas across the province are returning to higher fire danger levels as it gets hotter, said Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister of the Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service.”As temperatures rise, the potential for flare-ups does increase, so the fires may be kind of laying low in these cooler, wetter temperatures,” she said at the news conference.”Despite that lightning, we have not had any new starts in the last 24 hours, and no significant growth has been observed in recent days with any of the fires.”Officials want to be confident in Manitoba’s containment measures before allowing people to return home, Hayward said.”I know on the ground [that] it can look like the situation is really improving over the last little while, but just as we look ahead at the weather that’s coming, we want to be really certain that we have a good handle on things before people repatriate.”‘All hands on deck’There are currently 229 personnel helping fight the blazes. They came from places and organizations such as British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Parks Canada and the United States, Bushie said.”We are truly all hands on deck when it comes to the firefighting effort here,” he said..Manitoba may have not even reached the peak of its wildfire season this year, Bushie added.Members of about 8,800 Manitoba households are still away from their homes, a provincial spokesperson told CBC News on Wednesday. The majority are staying in hotels or with family and friends.As of Tuesday, there were about 130 people at an evacuation centre in Winnipeg, and more than 180 people at another site in Thompson, the spokesperson said.Of the 116 wildfires in Manitoba this year, 103 were caused by people, eight were sparked by natural causes and five are under investigation, the fire situation report says.There were no weather advisories or warnings in effect for the province on Thursday morning, according to Environment Canada.ABOUT THE AUTHORÖzten Shebahkeget is an Anishinaabe/Turkish Cypriot member of Northwest Angle 33 First Nation who grew up in Winnipeg’s North End. She has been writing for CBC Manitoba since 2022. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature and a master’s in writing.Email: ozten.shebahkeget@cbc.ca
Manitoba’s wildfire season may not have peaked yet, natural resources minister says
