1)’This is years to clean up’ Barrie’s $25M ice storm tab, hope is province covers most of it

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Ian MacLennan, June 5, 2025

Winter transitioned into spring, soon it will be summer, but work continues to recover from the ice storm that clobbered Barrie in late March.

“This is years to clean up,” said Mayor Alex Nuttall, as council approved a direct motion Wednesday to request the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing activate the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance Program (MDRAP) to allow the city to submit a claim for costs associated with the ice storm.

According to a note from Kevin Rankin, Barrie’s manager of parks and forestry operations, clean-up from the ice storm is close to $25 million (24,954, 956).

Under MDRAP, eligible costs up to the approximate threshold of $8.5 million would be funded by the province at 75 per cent, with 95 per cent funding available for eligible costs that exceed this threshold.

Rankin estimates the city will be saddled with a $2.9 million expense.

The preliminary estimated eligible costs for cleaning up from the ice storm are as follows:

Contracted Services: $23,881,586

Equipment Rentals: $474,870

Assistance from other municipalities: $111,500

Municipal Asset Repairs: $90,000

Overtime Expenses: $227,000

Capital and Operating Equipment Expenses: $170,000

Total Projected Expenses: $24,954,956

Estimated Disaster Relief Funding: $22,013,355

Estimated Municipal Expenses: $2,941,601

In his memo, Rankin explained the clean-up operation is taking place in phases.

“The damage to trees and vegetation will have a lasting impact that will take years to recover,” he said.

Phase 1 (completed):

• Getting travelled portion of streets open/cleared and ensuring driveway entrances are
  open.
• Removing immediate hazards over roads and sidewalks.

Phase 2 (underway and status update as of May 27, 2025 is as follows):

Clearing sidewalks and collecting downed branches on boulevards and collection of
private brush piled on boulevards and within road rights-of-way (projected completion
June 7th)

• Inventory of damaged trees – by Tree Risk Assessor Qualified and Certified Arborists
  (Streets 100% complete, Parks 95% complete, forest edges & trails 60% compete)
• Clean-up of fallen debris from damaged trees in all city parks (90% complete)

Removing trees that sustained critical damage, as identified by a Tree Risk Assessor
Qualified and Certified Arborist, and pose an immediate or high-risk hazard (80% of
4,400 completed)

• Please note that trees identified for removal by the initial assessor are rechecked by a certified arborist prior to removal. Arborists will be
  recommending pruning and other measures to save as many damaged trees
  as possible, however all trees that are structurally unsound, or will become so
  in a short time period will have to be removed. Authority to prune, remove
  and plant City owned trees is granted in the Public Tree By-law (2014-116).
• Pruning broken (and hanging) branches from trees, (46% of 9,300 completed)
• Clearing fallen city trees from private yards/back yards. There are 125 km of forest
  edge bordering on private properties, with currently 893 known locations where tree
  branches or whole trees have fallen along this edge. (16% completed)
• Clearing of fallen and hanging trees and branches over 150km of trails (10%
  completed)

Phase 3 (not started):

Stump removal (grinding out) of all destroyed trees

• Replanting of trees
• Long term care of damaged trees (monitoring and additional pruning, watering and
  fertilizing as necessary)
• Forest Health Assessments completed to determine short- and long-term
  management needs for heavily affected forested areas
• Complete City canopy assessment to ascertain total canopy loss as a result of the
  ice storm.

The city is also going to draft an application for funding from the federal government through the 2 Billion Trees program. The deadline to apply is Sept. 18.

“I would think that because of our significant tree damage, we would be looked upon very favourably on that program,” Rebecca James Reid, General Manager of Access Barrie, told council.

During May, 47 to 93 crews worked across the city completing clean-up each day. The crews included city forestry staff, pre-qualified forestry contractors and their subcontractors, and brush and material collection contractors.

As of May 29, 2025, the landfill has accepted approximately 9,500 tonnes of wood, brush and branch waste from city staff/contractors and residents since the beginning of April.

“Landfill hours were adjusted to increase operating days and times for residents, contractors and city staff to deposit material,” Rankin explains in his note. “Tipping fees were waived at the landfill site until Saturday, May 31, 2025, to support storm clean-up.”

The city is conducting one final curbside collection pass until June 7 to ensure all remaining ice storm debris is collected.

“It was incredible, the storm, and then the actual response from our staff,” said Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson. “Staff went over and above.”

“I think of surrounding municipalities that didn’t receive the same level of service. There are certain times on council where you’re happy and you’re grateful to be a councillor. Times like this, you’re honoured just to be a resident.

2) Wildfire forces more out in Saskatchewan, hotels open up for Manitoba evacuees

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Brittany Hobson, June 3, 2025

Winnipeg hotels were opening up Monday to evacuees who fled their homes due to raging wildfires, while to the west in Saskatchewan thousands more were ordered to flee.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency issued an alert late Monday afternoon, saying the northern town of La Ronge had ordered an evacuation as fire had breached its airport.

The agency said flames were fast-moving and that people in the community of 2,500, as well as anyone within 20 kilometres, including nearby Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, had to leave immediately.

The blaze was listed as 836 square kilometres in size.

Earlier in the day in Saskatoon, where Canada’s premiers and the prime minister were meeting, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said all of Canada has come together to help out the Prairie provinces.

“Many others around this table are consistently reaching out to the three of us to offer resources,” he said before the meeting.

More than 8,000 Saskatchewan residents were already out of their homes due to fires before the order was made for the La Ronge area. As of Monday, 18 fires were burning in Saskatchewan, with seven of them not contained.

In Manitoba, more than 17,000 people have been displaced since last week, including 5,000 residents of Flin Flon near the Saskatchewan boundary. Emergency centres were set up as available hotel rooms in cities have been scarce.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said some 1,000 hotel rooms were being made available for evacuees in Winnipeg.

“Nobody wants to sleep on a cot for more than a day or two, even in an emergency,” Kinew said.

“We’re connecting folks who need those enhanced accessibility supports first and then broadening it out to everybody else who needs help, too.”

Some residents from Pimicikamak Cree Nation, east of Flin Flon, were taken to hotels in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Sunday. About 600 more were expected to land there Monday.

“This has been a harrowing experience for many of our people. But at the end of the day, it’s all about saving lives. It’s all about keeping people safe,” said Grand Chief Garrison Settee with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, an advocacy group representing some northern First Nations in the province.

Efforts to get First Nations evacuees out of Manitoba are being spearheaded by Xpera, a firm offering various security and evacuation support services. Settee said the company is handling buses, flights and hotel accommodations.

Higher courts in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were also to meet this week in Winnipeg for a conference, but it was cancelled to make hotel spaces available to evacuees.

The fire threatening Flin Flon began a week ago across the boundary in Saskatchewan and had grown to 400 square kilometres. Crews have said the fire was contained to outside the community’s perimeter highway.

Residents were ordered out Wednesday in an evacuation that Flin Flon local Derek Kemp called “immediate and hectic.”

A longtime musician, Kemp rounded up his guitars, amplifiers and a hard drive with 20 years’ worth of music he couldn’t leave behind. He watched the fire grow in the days leading up to the evacuation.

“I just remember seeing a little bit of black smoke,” he said. “And then the next day, when I woke up, it was just giant plumes of smoke.”

Manitoba RCMP said evacuation efforts were completed in Flin Flon and surrounding areas, Lynn Lake and Pimicikamak, Mathias Colomb and Tataskweyak Cree Nations.

Manitoba reported 25 active wildfires Sunday. Officials said rain on Monday, while welcome, was “not enough to contribute towards wildfire suppression efforts.”

Kinew said support his province has received from other jurisdictions is appreciated but Canada needs to scale up its firefighting capabilities.

“As a nation, we’re going to have to contend with future fire seasons being more and more like this,” he said. “We could use every water bomber we can get our hands on.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province has seen nearly 5,000 people evacuated. There were 26 fires there listed as out-of-control.

The province experienced shifting winds, so some fire crews sent elsewhere have been called home, Smith said.

“With so many communities facing evacuation … we’ve got to be able to respond in a way that is going to be rapid.”

3) Barrie named as location for evacuees as Ontario First Nations declare wildfire emergencies

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff/Barrie 360 Staff, May 31, 2025

Two First Nations in Ontario’s far north have declared states of emergency and are planning evacuations as wildfires threaten their communities.

Leaders in Deer Lake First Nation, near the Manitoba boundary, made their declaration today and say they are planning a “complete community evacuation” involving 1,300 people.

A forest fire burning nearby is estimated to be nearly 75 square kilometres in size.

Webequie First Nation, about 540 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont., declared a state of emergency on Thursday because of a wildfire burning within a kilometre of the community.

It says it has initiated the first phase of an evacuation for elders, children and residents with medical conditions.

Band Councillor Tyler Shewaybick confirmed to Barrie 360 on Saturday evening that the evacuation to Barrie will take place on Monday.

He says the fire near the community remains active and out of control but there is limited aircraft availability caused by high demand in other fire zones.

“At the moment, there is no smoke coming toward the community,” added Shewaybick. “We have an emergency team coordinating with the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) and other partners.”

Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall told Barrie 360 that they are ready to help and assist, but had no further details to provide.