What’s unique about the Manitoba wildfires

A wildfire in the Lac du Bonnet, Man. area was “exceedingly rare” in that two citizens died, says Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.

“It is (too) common to lose crew in wildfires,” including air attack and hand crews, McGillivray tells Canadian Underwriter in an email. “But we haven’t lost a citizen in a wildfire in decades.”

Two people were killed during the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alta. wildfire — Canada’s costliest natural catastrophe at about $4 billion in insured damage — but it was due to a vehicular accident during evacuation, McGillivray adds.

In Manitoba, on May 14 at approximately 9:15 a.m., Lac du Bonnet RCMP recovered two bodies believed to be an adult male and adult female in the rural municipality, Manitoba RCMP said in a press release.

“It is believed both adults succumbed to injuries sustained in the wildfire,” Manitoba RCMP says. “The RCMP was made aware on May 13th these individuals were trapped in the fire, however, due to extreme conditions, emergency personnel were not able to reach their location until the following day.”

As of May 23, Manitoba Wildfire Service was responding to 12 active wildfires. The wildfire located six kilometres from Lac du Bonnet was being held at approximately 4,000 hectares.

Up to 1,000 forced to evacuate

CBC News reported between 850 and 1,000 people were forced to evacuate the community on May 13. Twenty-eight properties were destroyed.

Shannon Hoyt, vice president for Central Canada with ClaimsPro, says the adjusting firm doesn’t think the wildfires will reach the level of a Cat — meaning $30 million or more in insured losses.

“We are closely monitoring media advisories for updates and our local team of adjusters in Winnipeg are ready to respond immediately to those affected,” Hoyt says. “While we don’t anticipate this to become a catastrophic event, our Cat response team also remains in a state of readiness to respond quickly as needed.”

Crawford and Company (Canada) Inc. has been assigned some losses related to the wildfire and the “volume is manageable at this stage,” the company’s president, Greg Smith, said Friday.

“Most losses are significant claims that are total losses where all of the buildings on a property have been destroyed by the fire as well as vehicles, boats and other outdoor equipment,” Smith says. “Most claims are residential or recreational properties.”

Smith says Crawford is fortunate adjusters have already been able to travel to attend the sites of the losses to document the claims and are actively working with policyholders to begin the recovery process. That begins with helping policyholders secure temporary housing, emergency supplies, and clothing.

“In the coming days and weeks, efforts will shift to documenting the building and contents loss, which is a large task based on the extent of the damages,” Smith says. “Imagine the task of trying to list all of the property that was in your home before the fire; Crawford’s adjuster team have fire loss experts that can work with the insured through that process to make it easier.”

In both Canada and the United States, wildfire is often seen as a “western issue” — British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, and less as you move east, McGillivray adds. But there have been historic, large fires in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and other areas, “which show that fire has historically gotten into Timmins, Fredericton, etc., and could again,” McGillivray says.

“The current fires in Manitoba and Ontario (and in Newfoundland and Labrador a few weeks back) and the fire outside Halifax in May 2023 underscore that fire is a national problem.”