The Manitoba government say it’s still fully engaged in the ongoing battle against wildfires.

 

Officials said Monday that there were 120 active fires in Manitoba right now — total of 331 for the year, which is well above the 20-year average of 243 at this time.

 

During an update last Thursday, the province said there were 118 wildfires burning across Manitoba.

 

The silver lining, however, is that although the number of fires is up, no new evacuation orders have been issued.

 

Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister, Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service, said the smoky conditions certainly haven’t helped things improve in northern Manitoba.

 

 “Definitely when there’s heavy smoke it makes it difficult for our water bombers to take off our land. They need good visibility to safely conduct their operations.

 

It’s also an issue sometimes for the helicopters depending on how low that smoke is. So, we’ve had challenges getting crews out to areas of the fire where we would need access through helicopter.

 

Definitely the smokey conditions are impacting our ability to action from the air specifically. But the good thing too is that very smokey conditions also lessen fire behaviour, so, we don’t see the fires as active those days either.”

 

She went on to say that crews have made positive progress on the N61 fire nearest Thompson as well as the W17 and 28 fires nearest to Flin Flon, Bakers Narrows and Cold Lake.