The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is tracking ‘quite a few’ fires that popped up in the northeast region over the long weekend, says a fire information officer.
A fire near White River, named Wawa 7 by the MNR, has grown from 20 hectares yesterday to 294 hectares today, said Isabelle Chenard, fire information officer with the MNRF.
It is not under control, but Chenard said crews are attacking it from the ground and air.
“We did considerable air attack on it yesterday with water bombers,” said Chenard.
Weather conditions were more favourable today for fighting the fire, said Chenard, because of overcast skies, relatively low winds a light drizzle that came down last night.
Sault 15, a relatively small fire which affected the Searchmont area, was under control as of Saturday and is now out, said Chenard.
Much of the northwest region is under a fire restriction and two fires in the Geraldton area have merged, said Chenard.
Nippigon 13 is a 400 hectare fire located north of Geralton and is not under control.
“Originally that started out as two different fires and they have joined together,” said Chenard.
She added, “we did a lot of air attacks yesterday and have crews there today. We have made progress.”
Efforts to control the 75,000 hectare Red 003 fire near Red Lake in the northwest region continue.
Chenard said it is grassfire season.
“We encourage people not to burn their grass, rather to use compost or local landfills,” she said.
A release from MNRF on the fire conditions in Northeastern Ontario follows.
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There are six new fires to report in the Northeast Region, as of mid-afternoon on May 24.
Chapleau 5 is being held at 0.5 of a hectare; Chapleau 6 is not under control at 0.2 of a hectare; Parry Sound 13 covers 0.1 of a hectare and is not under control; Parry Sound 14 covers 0.3 of a hectare and is not under control; Sault 17 is not under control at 3.0 hectares; and Timmins 4 is being held at 0.1 of a hectare.
There are eight other active fires in the region: Algonquin Park 1 is under control at 1.3 hectares; Hearst 4 is not yet under control at 475 hectares; Hearst 5 covers 2747 hectares and is not under control; Kemptville 1 is under control at 1 hectare; North Bay 8 is being held at 0.8 of a hectare; Parry Sound 12 is being held at 1.2 hectares; Wawa 6 is being held at 1.5 hectares; and Wawa 7 covers 294 hectares and is not under control.
The forest fire hazard in the region ranges from moderate to extreme.
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