2024 Manitoba wildfire season saw more hectares burned than last year

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Peggy

Over 266,000 hectares of forest burned in Manitoba this year – over 60,000 hectares more than last year – in another destructive wildfire season for the province.

To date, 291 wildfires have burned across the province this year, which is down slightly from the 300 that had popped up by this time last year. Of those, 105 were human-caused, and 206 required a full firefighting response, with the rest requiring fewer resources.

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This year’s wildfire season also began earlier. The first blaze was detected on April 8, while last year there were no fires until April 30. The first major fire of the year was in early May, when a massive 37,000-hectare blaze tore through the area near Cranberry Portage.

Three large fires in northern Manitoba remain out of control. Crews are still extinguishing hot spots on a 20,000-hectare blaze northeast of Thompson, while other large fires continue to burn near Gillam and Island Lake.