05/19/2025
Two Winnipeg men, Eric Gauthier and Pascal Breton, were hoping to revisit the magic of their youth during a backcountry camping trip earlier this week with their sons. Instead, what began as a peaceful retreat in Manitoba’s Nopiming Provincial Park quickly became a life-threatening emergency.Gauthier and Breton had taken their sons — Caleb Henley, 7, and Remi Gautron-Breton, 6 — to a remote campsite on Garner Lake near the Ontario border, far beyond the reach of cell service. They were enjoying idyllic days of fishing, barbecuing, and spending time in nature, unaware that a lightning strike near Bird River — about 60 kilometres away — had ignited a fast-moving wildfire.“We’re camping, we’re fishing, we’re on a beautiful beach in a very scenic, absolutely stunning place,” Gauthier said.On Tuesday, while grilling steaks with a cooler full of walleye nearby, they noticed a helicopter flying overhead. Breton initially feared it was a conservation check due to the province’s open fire ban, but moments later, reality set in.“When the chopper landed, Conservation came out and said, ‘We’ve got to get you guys out of here, there’s a fire really close,’” Breton recalled.Unbeknownst to the group, their friend back in Winnipeg — who had launched them from Beresford Lake in two boats — had been monitoring fire updates and, upon seeing the evacuation notice, contacted authorities. That call likely saved their lives.The group was among 13 people rescued by Manitoba wildfire and conservation officials that day. As they lifted off in the helicopter, six-year-old Remi watched the fiery landscape beneath them in disbelief.“I didn’t know it was a fire, but it was a fire,” he said. “The sun looked red as we flew up into the sky.”Breton described the view during the evacuation: “It was just a wall of fire from the time they picked us up all the way back to Lac du Bonnet.”Gauthier, who first visited Nopiming Park as a teen, was devastated to see it burning from above. “This is our playground. This is where we come. This is our special place. It was devastating,” he said.For Breton, the experience was even more personal. He was only eight years old when his father and uncle first took him on a backcountry camping trip in the same park — a memory that’s remained vivid throughout his 36 years of returning to the area. Now, he fears that the forest he cherished for decades may be reduced to “a charred bunch of trees and rock for years to come.”The fire also destroyed their friend’s cabin at Beresford Lake. “All that’s left from the picture that we’ve received — all you can see is the wood stove in the middle. Everything else is pulverized,” Gauthier said. Both men also lost their trucks, which were parked at the cabin site.As of Saturday, the wildfire remained out of control, having grown to more than 100,000 hectares, according to the province’s fire status report. Bird River Fire Chief Mac Kinghorn noted that recent rainfall has helped, but there is still no timeline for when evacuees can return.Reflecting on the ordeal, Gauthier stressed the importance of always informing someone of your backcountry location. “That’s what helped get us home safe,” he said.Breton echoed his gratitude: “I’m eternally grateful to our friend, to the rescuers, and to the courageous firefighters working to put out the wildfire. Everybody involved in helping people get out of the fires with that rescue effort is amazing.”
