Traverse Bay residents allowed to return home after grass fire sparked evacuation notice

Smoke is seen from the Traverse Bay fire on April 26, 2025. (Jason Green)

Residents in Traverse Bay are able to return home after a fast-moving grass fire forced an evacuation.

The Victoria Beach Fire Department was the first on scene Saturday confirming in a post on Facebook that residents needed to leave the area.

The Municipality of Alexander, which includes Traverse Bay, said it was estimated that 300 to 400 people were forced to leave their homes.

“The RCMP also responded and quickly determined that evacuation order needed to be put in place, largely due to the strong wind gusts that were occurring and rapid spread of the fire,” said Gisele Smith the CAO of the municipality.

The municipality did issue a state of emergency that will be in place until May 2 and fire ban is also in effect until further notice.

On Sunday morning, the Municipality of Alexander announced the evacuation order had been lifted and people were able to return home.

“At the moment, the crews are around the fire and the status is the fire is being held.”

Smith thanked everyone for leaving when requested as well as the firefighters and municipality staff for all their work to protect everyone.

“We’re just happy that it didn’t result in any loss of buildings or life.”

Traverse Bay is around 112 kilometres north of Winnipeg, tucked near the south shore of Lake Winnipeg.