Manitoba premier gives briefing on wildfires, says help is coming from the U.S.

The Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, updated the press in Winnipeg as the wildfire situation worsened overnight.

Transcript

00:00keep calm and carry on that's the message for today on this the third day of our provincial

00:19state of emergency today we're going to see thousands of people moving out of northern

00:25manitoba the canadian armed forces has accelerated their efforts in pakatawagan given that really

00:32urgent situation overnight and the the hercules planes are arriving in very frequent

00:41cadence in norway house to move pimichigamack citizens so as we get later this afternoon and

00:52into this evening we'll be getting closer to that 17 000 number so on wednesday we said 17 000

00:58people are being ordered out of their homes or being put on notice today's the day where

01:04the vast majority of those folks will actually have moved from their homes to safety

01:11we do expect some very very challenging conditions in flinflon and in the surrounding community

01:17particularly later this afternoon the situation there is very very serious and we are doing

01:24everything that we can to preserve life but also to preserve people's livelihoods and homes in the region

01:33because that situation is so serious across canada we are now turning internationally for help i shared

01:40some information about colombian helicopters yesterday and today we receive news that 125 firefighters

01:49will be coming from the united states that's 100 firefighters proper and then 25 managerial workers

01:56who will be able to provide logistical supports we cannot thank other jurisdictions enough folks from

02:03alberta british columbia nova scotia new brunswick the flight crews and bombers water bombers from

02:10ontario and from the territories uh the other equipment and resources we've received from quebec and

02:17now turning to our neighbors from the south to help us in our time of need not too long after we had

02:23winnipeg firefighter in los angeles helping americans during their time of need it really does just

02:29underline how serious the situation is i think what we've seen this wildfire season that's been unique

02:36as the experts have explained it to us is that in past three years you've had you've had one region

02:43at a time the east would have an issue then the next year it would be the north and then the following

02:47year maybe the west this year it's every region at the same time and so this is one of the things that

02:52we are in the first instance responding to with the dedication the professionalism and the desire to

03:01protect lives across manitoba we're in a wildfire season where we're not seeing rain where there

03:09hasn't been lightning and so when we do see new starts as we continue to see it stands to reason that

03:16there's a human cause and then as we head into the weekend pray for rain we haven't seen rain in the

03:26forecast yet that could really help sustained rainfall in particular but in the absence of that

03:34the past few days have been very challenging and that may continue