Evacuation ordered as wildfire engulfs remote Canadian Indigenous community

TRENTON, Canada

Evacuation was ordered Thursday for 4,500 members of the remote Garden Hill Anisininew Nation community in Canada due to the threat of an approaching wildfire.

“Chief Dino Flett and the council have declared this urgent measure to protect the lives and safety of all residents,” according to a statement from the First Nation. “This is an unprecedented and devastating time for our community and our people.”

Garden Hill is in the far north of the province of Manitoba and can only be reached by air. The Canadian Armed Forces has been called in to airlift residents, according to an X post by Federal Emergency Minister Eleanor Olszewski.

"We are taking every possible step to ensure the safety of our residents, especially our elders, children, and those with urgent medical needs,” Flett said in the statement. “I humbly ask for prayers from all nations and supporters as we face this crisis."

Garden Hill is not the only community threatened by wildfires.

More than 1,000 residents of Snow Lake in northwestern Manitoba were ordered evacuated Wednesday.

The wildfire situation in Manitoba is alarming and getting worse, said officials.

“The Manitoba Wildfire Service continues to respond to 98 active wildfires across the province, a total of 252 wildfires to date, well above the average for this date of 194 total fires,” the province said Wednesday.