| Comments | Northern Manitoba, July 19-26, 2007. A total of 254 wildfires burned 147,473 hectares of land in Manitoba in the summer of 2007. From July 19 to 26, 55 wildfires were burning in Northern Manitoba. During this time, numerous communities were in danger and had to be evacuated from fires that burned up to 16 kilometres away. Evacuations began as early as July 19, when 435 people from O-Pipon-NaPiwin Cree Nation at South Indian Lake had to be airlifted to safety. On July 24, 330 people were airlifted from Sayisi Dene Nation at Tadoule Lake. In addition, on July 25, 48 people from Tataskweyak Cree Nation at Split Lake and 150 from Shamattawa were evacuated due to smoke. All evacuees were taken to Winnipeg and Thompson. The government of Manitoba deployed 450 firefighters, 27 helicopters and nine water bombers. In addition, five firefighting crews from British Columbia assisted local firefighters. The largest fire burned near South Indian Lake and was 85, 000 hectares in size. |