Vast Wildfires Prompt Manitoba's Second State of Emergency in 2025

This summer, Manitoba has seen over 2.5 million acres consumed by wildfires, marking the most severe fire season since 1994.

The Manitoba government has declared a state of emergency as over 100 wildfires continue to rage across the province, with the potential to make this the most devastating year for land burned since 1994. As of Thursday, officials reported that wildfires had scorched an astonishing 2.5 million acres, with at least a dozen fires labeled out of control.

This summer’s unusual heat intensifies the already challenging Canadian wildfire season, typically active from March to October. The majority of these fires are ignited by lightning strikes, and conditions remain ripe for further outbreaks, particularly as severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for Winnipeg, the provincial capital.

In a swift response to the escalating crisis, nine communities, including Snow Lake and the Garden Hill First Nation, have been placed under mandatory evacuation orders. Premier Wab Kinew explained that the state of emergency seeks to secure additional facilities for sheltering the thousands of Manitobans displaced by the fires. On Thursday alone, over 4,000 residents were evacuated from Garden Hill, seeking refuge in locations such as Winnipeg's Billy Mosienko Arena and RBC Convention Center.

The federal government has mobilized resources, deploying an air force plane to assist with the transport of evacuees. Assistance is also coming from American firefighters on the ground, though this has sparked controversy. Kinew criticized U.S. Congress members for politicizing the crisis after some Republicans wrote to Canada urging measures to control the smoke and ash spreading into the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Pointing out the absurdity of a political discourse amid a calamity, Kinew remarked, "This is what turns people off from politics when you have a group of Congresspeople trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season when we’ve lost lives in our province." This is not the first state of emergency issued in Manitoba this year; Kinew declared an earlier emergency in May after wildfires resulted in fatalities and forced around 30,000 people to evacuate in both Manitoba and neighboring Saskatchewan.