Power restored to 6 northwestern Ontario First Nations after 4-day outage

CBC

16-07-2025

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Power has been restored to half a dozen First Nations in northwestern Ontario, after a series of hydro poles along the Wataynikaneyap Power line were damaged by wildfires on Saturday.
Wataynikaneyap Power says the restoration was completed as of 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
"Pikangikum, North Spirit Lake, and Keewaywin First Nations are re-connected to grid power," it said in Tuesday night's update.
"Deer Lake, Sandy Lake, and Poplar Hill First Nations have their assets energized to allow a reconnection to the grid from their diesel generator back-ups. Transfer to grid power will be co-ordinated with Hydro One Remote Communities Inc."
The outages created a number of challenges in the affected communities, resulting in food spoilage, overheating in people's homes, and shortages of food, fuel and other essential supplies, as Pikangikum First Nation's chief told CBC News.
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However, surrounding wildfires still post threats to a number of communities in the region. Pikangikum is continuing to evacuate its most vulnerable members to Thunder Bay and Sioux Lookout due to Red Lake 62, a 31,000-hectare out-of-control blaze just seven kilometres away.
Meanwhile, North Spirit Lake sent its at-risk members to Toronto because of Red Lake 40, which is more than 8,700 hectares large and remains not under control.
Elsewhere, a 32,000-hectare fire known as Red Lake 67 prompted self-evacuations in McDowell Lake First Nation. East of Poplar Hill, the Red Lake 72 fire has grown to 4,900 hectares.
The region's largest wildfire, Red Lake 12, continues to be observed at 195,000 hectares.
Thanks to the precipitation, the wildland fire hazard is now low to moderate across the entire northwest region.