Fire destroys 6 cabins in Manitoba's Beaver Creek Provincial Park

Firefighters continue to battle wildfire in Beaver Creek Provincial Park that has forced the evacuation ofcabins in the area around the Manitoba park and destroyed six cottages.

Rubble wasall that wasleft of the buildings by Tuesday afternoon, and smoke could still be smelledaround the cottages.

Water bombers have been flying above the area, about 170 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the western side of Lake Winnipeg,and collecting water from the lake to put out nearby hot spots.

A plane isin the area to help co-ordinate the firefighting efforts and a helicopter is stationed at the incident command centre. Sprinklers are also running, along with hoses around homes that are still standing, as part of an effort to stop any more buildings from burning.

Firefighters were called in around 2:30 p.m. Monday from departments in nearby communities including Arborg, Gimli and Riverton, but it was too late for the six cottages.

"You got a bunch of fires rolling through the cottage subdivision so it's pretty intense," said Jeff Erwin, a wildfire specialist with the Office of the Fire Commission, fromthe fire command centre in Beaver Creek Provincial Park Tuesday.

Erwin said the conditions in the area are a concern.

"It's dry out, low humidity, hotit all adds up to strong fire behaviour."

Provincial fire crews are expected to be in the area into the night Tuesday in case there's a changein winds and the fire flares up.

"You don't want to lose anymore of these cottages," said Erwin.

He's hoping for rain and a drop in temperatures.

Emergency response teams have set up sprinklers on properties in immediate danger.

Leroy Loewen, chief of the Arborg-Bifrost fire department, said in thearea he was working in, the fire had jumped a major road and also spread along a smaller road connected to it.

"The treetops were burned, and it was very smoky as well as we were going in," he said.

"So it was less than ideal but we put in a lot of effort and we were successful at saving the cabin that we were assigned to protect."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

WATCH | Crews battle blaze in Manitoba's Beaver Creek Provincial Park:

Crews still battling blaze

4 years ago

Duration 2:00

Fire destroys 6 cabins in Manitoba's Beaver Creek Provincial Park.