A few people are still waiting to be airlifted from Manitoba’s fire evacuation zone after bad weather grounded flights overnight.
“Due to poor weather late last night, flights had to be stopped,” said Jason Small, a spokesperson for the Red Cross.
“That meant 18 members of Pauingassi First Nation, as well as a group of 23 RCMP officers, security guards and Red Cross team members, had to spend the night in Little Grand Rapids First Nation.”
Flights are expected to resume Friday morning to get that last group of 41 people, he said.
Pauingassi and Little Grand Rapids are about 265 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, near the Ontario border.
Evacuations of the two First Nations, which are less than 20 kilometres apart, began Tuesday night, as a huge wildfire continues to rage nearby.
When the evacuations are complete, the Red Cross will support roughly 2,000 fire evacuees, including those who fled fires approaching Sapotaweyak Cree Nation (in northwestern Manitoba). An evacuation of Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation (in the province’s Interlake Region) ended earlier this week, allowing about 100 people to return.
The Red Cross has arranged for the evacuees to stay in a number of Winnipeg hotels.