Smoke levels up in the air as Winnipeg at mercy of Ontario wildfires

Smoke from wildfires raging in northwestern Ontario blanketed southern Manitoba Thursday night and Friday morning, and while winds are pushing the smoke eastward, a meteorologist warned it could return. “There [...]

Smoke levels up in the air as Winnipeg at mercy of Ontario wildfires To continue reading, please subscribe: Digital Subscription One year of digital access for only $205* - Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com - Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper - Access News Break, our award-winning app - Play interactive puzzles To continue reading, please subscribe: Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional $1 for the first 4 weeks* Smoke from wildfires raging in northwestern Ontario blanketed southern Manitoba Thursday night and Friday morning, and while winds are pushing the smoke eastward, a meteorologist warned it could return.

“There are a ton of very large out-of-control fires in northern Saskatchewan and in Ontario, So really, those are our two neighbours. So any time the wind really shifts from those directions, we should expect that there’ll be some smoke that’ll move in,” Environment Canada meteorologist Robyn Dyck said Friday. Wildfires in northern Manitoba and Idaho are also contributing to the smoky conditions.

“These fires are not going anywhere quickly,” Dyck said. Environment Canada issued an air quality warning for Winnipeg Friday morning as southeasterly winds brought smoke from Ontario into the region. The warning advised the smoke was expected to cause poor air quality and reduced visibility.

By 8 a.m., the air quality index for Winnipeg was 10-plus, or very high risk. The alert was no longer in effect by the afternoon, when the air quality index dropped to two, or low risk. Dyck warned the smoke could return with any slight change of wind.

Chris Pascoe, an associate professor of physiology and pathophysiology at the University of Manitoba, said people should stay indoors when the air quality index is 10. He compared a day’s worth of exposure to wildfire smoke of this magnitude to smoking seven to 10 cigarettes. The Manitoba government’s fire map showed five fires burning out of control as of Friday morning.

Three of those are in the vicinity of Thompson, with the biggest measuring more than 47,000 acres of burned land. South Indian Lake in O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation started evacuating residents late last month owing to nearby wildfires. At last count, 141 fires were burning across Manitoba, with 266 blazes recorded to date.

Pisew Falls Provincial Park and the Kwasitchewan Falls trail near Thompson closed July 14 due to wildfires in the vicinity. Back-country travel in the area is prohibited, the province said in an advisory. Wildfires in northwestern Ontario forced the evacuation and rerouting of some wilderness trips for Camp Stephens campers, the YMCA-YWCA of Winnipeg said Friday.

Smoke from wildfires in Ontario floating over the Canada-U.S. border prompted four American members of congress from Michigan to write a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney demanding the government take action. nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca Nicole Buffie Multimedia producer Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk.

Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole. Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism.

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