The province says more information will become available later on Thursday about the situation in Leaf Rapids, Man., where a wildfire entered the community Wednesday night, forcing a number of essential workers to flee the town.
Officials from the northwestern Manitoba town said in a social media post that flames had jumped the Churchill River and entered the town’s industrial area.
The province said Thursday morning that emergency fire crews remained at the scene to combat the blaze, and that while some vacant buildings had been destroyed, so far only one occupied residence appeared to have suffered fire damage.
In an update late Thursday morning, the town confirmed that one home, on Utik Crescent, had been damaged. They said the fire mainly impacted a forested area near the northern part of town, with the south remaining unscathed.
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The town warned that burned Hydro poles leading into the town could result in potential power outages.
At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Kristin Hayward with the Manitoba Wildfire Service said it was a scary scene when the fire jumped into the town, and non-essential firefighting personnel had to act quickly to get out safely — although they were able to return about an hour later.
“(It was) very, very intense. Crews talked about how the fire was essentially creating its own weather,” Hayward said.
“There was all this additional wind and heat and the movement of the fire was just really, really rapid… and I think that’s one of the factors that led to folks feeling a bit unsafe remaining in community and retreating for a short period of time.”
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