Candace Derksen

"It's a very serious situation." That from Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew in an update on the province's wildfire situation Thursday, who says fire fighters from across Manitoba and beyond continue to blazes on several fronts. 

As of Thursday morning, Kinew said there were 16,800 evacuees registered in Manitoba. Many of which have been put up in hotels across Manitoba, occupying about 1,700 rooms. 

He added, it's been great to see people step up and provide donations, volunteer at shelters and even take evacuees into their homes. 

"It's a very serious situation." That from Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew in an update on the province's wildfire situation Thursday, who says fire fighters from across Manitoba and beyond continue to blazes on several fronts. 

As of Thursday morning, Kinew said there were 16,800 evacuees registered in Manitoba. Many of which have been put up in hotels across Manitoba, occupying about 1,700 rooms. 

He added, it's been great to see people step up and provide donations, volunteer at shelters and even take evacuees into their homes. 

Deer fawning season is just around the corner, and a provincial wildlife official is drawing attention to a frequent source of conflict that comes with it.
    
Janine Wilmot, a wildlife conflict biologist, says, often, people will see a deer fawn out on its own and, assuming it's been abandoned, they'll want to bring it to safety. 

"It's actually way better to leave it be," she explained, noting the doe will usually leave their fawns alone for hours while they go feed. "It could be six or even eight hours later when they come back."

Border Land School Division (BLSD) officials are keeping an eye on the wildfire burning in the RM of Piney around Carrick, Badger, St. Labre and Florze.

While none of the people evacuated from Carrick or Badger are students or staff from the division, that is not the case for staff living in Woodridge who were evacuated Wednesday evening, noted Superintendent Krista Curry. She says the division has told staff and families to stay safe and follow evacuation orders, adding they'll be checking in with those affected to see how they can be supported.

Does this vehicle look familiar to you?

If so, you're asked to contact the Altona Police Service.

In a social media post on Tuesday afternoon, the department said it is looking for the owner of the vehicle, described as a dark coloured sedan equipped with red and blue flashing lights on the dashboard.

Police say this is relation to an incident at the Altona Park that happened Sunday evening. 

The Morris Advanced Robotics team closed out the VEX World Championships in Dallas, Texas with a 3-7 record. 

In the final update, leader, JP Jamieson, noted the team (88875M) lost its final two matches (the last by only one point).

"(There was) lots of great learning from playing teams from all over the world," he added.

Overall, the team (88875M) finished #221 out of the over 800 teams at the tournament in the Skills Competition. This is a season high for both their driver score, and autonomous score.

It was all hands-on deck very early this morning as fire fighters responded to a house fire in Morris.

According to a social media post, members of the Morris Fire Department got the call at 1:05 a.m.

Once on scene, it was determined more help would be needed, and a mutual aid call was sent out to the St. Jean Fire Department.

No other details on the incident are available at this time.

The Community Orchard in Altona will continue to take shape this spring.
    
A-CAN, the grassroots group behind the effort, planted a shelter belt and built some berms at the site, located just north of the Community Garden, last year.

Authorities have identified two persons of interest in connection to last month's fire at Grace St. John's Anglican Lutheran Church in Carman.
    
It didn't take long for Pembina Valley RCMP to declare the devastating early-morning March 13th blaze as suspicious and appealed to the public for any video surveillance footage that could help in the investigation.

Now, RCMP has released two photos from video surveillance depicting the persons of interest and are once again looking to the public, this time to help figure out who the pair is. 

If you've got a pad mount transformer in your yard, Manitoba Hydro wants you to keep one thing in mind this spring.
    
As sump pumps start gurgling to life, homeowners are being reminded to direct those hoses away from the green electrical boxes sometimes found in yards.
    
According to the Crown utility, Hydro crews have spotted several transformers with puddles around them and, while the units are designed to be safe even when wet, it says standing water can corrode the equipment requiring costly repairs and causing power outages.