Manitoba declares state of emergency for second time due to wildfires

Playing null of undefined

State of emergency returns to Manitoba

FULL: Manitoba Premier declares state of emergency

A second state of emergency has been declared in Manitoba due to wildfires burning in the province.

Premier Wab Kinew announced Thursday the state of emergency was declared at 12:01 p.m.

“The primary reason that we have called this latest state of emergency is because we need access to more facilities to be able to shelter this large number of Manitobans who are being forced to flee their homes due to wildfires,” said Kinew.

Evacuees will once again be able to go to the Leila Soccer Centre and Billy Mosienko Arena in Winnipeg. As well, Kinew said the province will also be moving forward with an order to have access to the RBC Convention Centre in downtown Winnipeg.

Kinew said there is an event at the convention centre this weekend that is still going forward, and the province is working to plan around it.

“We are looking to scale up very quickly and doing our best to accommodate a balancing act between those activities and the very emergent needs of wildfire evacuees in northern communities across Manitoba.”

When asked about hotel space availability, Kinew confirmed that most evacuees coming to Winnipeg will be staying in congregate shelters, saying hotels are “maxed out” over the next few days.

Kinew noted the convention centre does have the ability to house 7,000 people if needed.

Kristin Hayward, the assistant deputy minister of the Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service, said this is the worst wildfire season in terms of hectares burned in the last 30 years.

As of July 8, just over one million hectares of land have burned in the province. Hayward said the 20-year average is 94,000 hectares, meaning 2025 is around 11 times worse than the average.

The second worst year since 1995 was in 2013, when 720,000 hectares were burned.

There are 105 active wildfires burning in Manitoba and 261 fires have happened in 2025.

With the newest evacuations of Snow Lake and Garden Hill First Nation on Thursday, there are approximately 12,600 evacuees.