SANDILANDS, Man. — A wildfire that’s blackened close to 190 square kilometres in southeastern Manitoba is now burning close to a village.
Mike Purtill with the Manitoba fire commissioner’s office says crews are using heavy equipment to clear brush and prevent the blaze from jumping a highway and reaching Sandilands.
The fire is burning a couple of kilometres away from the village.
Up to 400 people have been evacuated from the area, including residents from another nearby community of Woodridge.
They’re being housed with friends and family, or have gone to hotels in Winnipeg.
Residents living in evacuated communities in the neighbouring Rural Municipality of Stuartburn were allowed to return home Saturday.
Purtill says winds that reached up to 90 kilometres per hour on Friday have dropped to about 30 km/h.
But he says no rain is forecast for the region until the middle of next week.