Nopiming Provincial Park is now back open to all permanent residents, cottagers and commercial operators. The move happened Friday morning at 9 o'clock. According to our province, Provincial Road (PR) 314 and PR 304 are also now back open to traffic.
The Manitoba Wildfire Service (MWS) says the moves are possible, even though Fire EA061 remains out of control. That is because suppression efforts allow for the reopening.
While Bird Lake Campground is open, all other campgrounds in Nopiming will remain closed for the rest of the season including Beresford Lake, Black Lake, and Tulabi Falls. The backcountry campsites at Shoe Lake are closed, along with all water routes and hiking trails in the park.
These closures are necessary as significant wildfire cleanup is required across the park. Burn zones with scorched trees pose a safety risk, and backcountry areas must be evaluated before water routes and hiking trails can safely reopen. MWS says anyone hoping to spend time in Nopiming backcountry this season should make other plans.
The fire continues to smoulder throughout Nopiming Provincial Park. Visible flames and smoke columns will persist for the remainder of the summer and fall. MWS says this is normal, and they will continue to actively monitor the area. To date, approximately 305,765 hectares has burned as part of Fire EA061.
Manitoba remains under a provincial state of emergency, under the Emergency Measures Act, due to a wildfire season that is the worst over the last 30 years, with more than one million hectares (ha) of area burned in the province. The state of emergency is in effect until August 8 and, if necessary, may be extended.
Kristin Hayward is Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for MWS. She says as of Wednesday, 120 wildfires were burning in Manitoba. The total number of fires so far in 2025 is 333. The 20-year average for the number of fires by July 23rd is 252.
Hayward says Manitoba currently has 277 personnel assisting us from out of province. This includes 200 firefighters and five agency reps from Mexico, 42 firefighters and one agency rep from New Zealand, a seven-person incident management team from New Zealand, two seven-person incident management teams from Australia, one overhead personnel from both New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and six overhead personnel from Minnesota. An additional 60 firefighters were expected to arrive from Quebec on Thursday.
Blair McTavish is Assistant Deputy Minister for Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure. He says as of Thursday, there are 20 states of local emergency in place but notes there have been no evacuations over the past 24 hours.