Fire ravages wilderness camp in northern Manitoba

Several buildings in a northwestern Manitoba wilderness camp were burned in a wildfire on the weekend, discovered by someone cruising past on a Jet Ski, RCMP say.

Police were called around 1:30 p.m. Sunday after that personnoticed a significant amount of smoke atCamp Whitney on the shore Athapapuskow Lake,about 20 kilometres southeast of Flin Flon.

RCMP rushed to the camp by boat and found the main kitchen fully engulfed in flames, a Tuesday news release from the Mounties stated, noting that several other structures were also damaged.

Officers determined nobody was at the camp, and provincial fire crews sent a water bomber to dumpfoam on the flames.

Flin Flon's fire department also attended with water pumps, helping to keep the fire from spreading further.

The site had been rented out on the weekend but the group had already left the camp, which is owned by the City of Flin Flon.

The facilities were closed up by a caretaker around11:30 a.m., RCMP said.

The initial investigation has not found anything suspicious about the fire at thistime, the news release stated.

The Office of the Fire Commissioner continues its investigation into the cause, and theManitoba Wildfire Service is monitoring the area to ensure the fire does not reignite.

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