Latest news with #FireRangers
CBC
30-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Deer Lake prepares to declare state of emergency over nearby wildfire
Deer Lake First Nation is preparing to declare a state of emergency and evacuate all remaining members due to a fire burning in and around the community. As of Friday morning, the fire, known as Red Lake 12, was just over 7,100 hectares in size and not under control. "It was about 200 feet from our local band office," Deer Lake Chief Leonard Mamakeesick told CBC News on Friday. "It's surrounded the airport already." Mamakeesick said the fire worsened overnight due to shifting winds. He said he was working on getting a state of emergency declared. While Deer Lake was already in the process of evacuating vulnerable community members, Mamakeesick said there are still more than 1,000 people in the community. They'll be taken to Toronto as part of the overall evacuation of the community. Ontario FireRangers, meanwhile, are working on protecting the community, he said, and have set up sprinklers to protect structures there. Red Lake 12 is one of a few fires of note burning in the region this week, the provincial Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) said. Nipigon 5 has grown to about 2,000 hectares, and is not under control. The fire is burning just south of Webequie First Nation, which has issued a pre-evacuation alert. Kenora 20 is about 34,000 hecatres and not under control. AFFES said crews are making "steady progress" on the fire, which has spread into Manitoba. The fire is burning northwest of Kenora. Kenora 14, meanwhile, is being held at about 1,600 hectares. That fire is located south of Kenora. Much of the northwest remains under a restricted fire zone due to the forest fire hazard. No open burning is permitted. 'The smoke is really bad': Deer Lake resident Deer Lake resident David Meekis spoke with CBC News on Thursday about the environmental conditions resulting from the fire. "The smoke is really bad … you can't even, like, stand around outside that long due to the smoke, you inhale it and it hurts your lungs really bad," Meekis said. "It's pretty hectic here right now." Meekis said he's standing by to get on a list as the authorities carry out an evacuation of the community. " They're evacuating people to Toronto … they got together and started the evacuation list for people, like, kids first and elders first," he said. "They're just going by the ages and people that can't really do much, like people that are on dialysis, people that are on medical — they're the ones that are getting picked first. Healthy people like me, they're waiting out, waiting for the other ones to go first." Right now it's scary. - David Meekis, Deer Lake resident According to Meekis, people have been advised that they could be away from the community "three to four weeks," adding that he has mixed feelings about leaving. "I don't feel like leaving my dogs. I got two Huskies," he said. Meekis said the authorities are "going to figure something out how to feed them and look after the animals when you leave. People [have] dogs and cats they have in their yard. So they're planning something." "Right now it's scary. We're kind of scared because the fire is on both sides of us and it's spreading fast and the winds picking up too," Meekis said on Thursday. Special air quality statements in effect Environment Canada has also issued special air quality statements due to wildfire smoke for parts of the northwest, including: Thunder Bay. Atikokan. Ear Falls. Dryden. Kenora. Ighace. Fort Frances. Red Lake. Sioux Lookout. Wildfire smoke, the statements reads, is expected to affect the region throughout the day Friday, and possibly in to Saturday for some areas. Red Lake Mayor Fred Mota said the municipality is monitoring fire activity in the region, and remains in constant contact with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). "We're still remaining under a restricted fire zone in our area, obviously for good reason due to the dry forest conditions," Mota said. "Lots of smoke in the area. We're fortunate in our radius that there's no close fires at this time." Forest fires caused the evacuation of Red Lake in 2020, and the municipality was also nearly evacuated due to fire activity in 2021. "We want to take all the precautions necessary," Mota said. "When I met with the MNR earlier in the fire season, some of the concern was the dryness." "We had quite a bit of snow, but due to all of the warm weather that we received, that snow melted off very quickly and didn't saturate into the ground. And of course, we haven't had a lot of precipitation."
CBC
19-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Northwestern Ontario First Nation still facing fire threat despite cooler weather
The chief of Wabaseemoong Independent Nations says his community is still under threat from forest fires, despite the cooler weather this weekend. "Once the rain stops and the warmer temperatures come back to the region, it's just going to flare the fire up and possibly be worse than what it was before," Chief Waylon Scott said. The community had to act quickly last Wednesday as the fires approached Wabaseemoong. "We literally had hours to evacuate," he said. Kenora 20, which is burning just west of the community, was about 31,000 hectares in size and not under control as of Monday afternoon. Kenora 14, meanwhile, is burning north of Wabaseemoong; as of Monday afternoon, that fire was just over 1,600 hectares in size, and not under control. Chris Marchand, fire information officer for the Kenora 20 fire with Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) said nore than 90 firefighters from British Columbia are assisting Ontario FireRangers in suppression efforts, and structural protection is ongoing in Wabaseemoong. In total, he said, there are now more than 200 firefighters working on the Kenora 20 fire, along with 17 helicopters. "That's certainly a a real focus on getting some meaningful firefighting done on these perimeter areas, so that as the fire behaviour does rise in the area, as we have drier weather over the next few days, we can prevent these areas from flaring up and becoming a problem once again," Marchand said. He said there have been some structural losses due to the fire, but he didn't have details. '100 foot flames' seen from the community Scott said people could see "100 foot flames" from the community. "It was scary at times, especially hearing the fire," he said, "Like you can actually hear the roar of the fire from across the river." It took a few days to sort out where community members would stay until the fire is under control, but he said several government officials and other First Nations have stepped up to help. Roughly 800 community members in total will be staying in Niagara Falls, where they will have access to nurse practitioners and eventually a doctor. A smaller number of evacuees are in Kenora and Winnipeg. Scott said this is now the third evacuation he has experienced since becoming chief, and he acknowledged that the emergencies and evacuations have an emotional toll on the community. "It's every spring moving forward, I believe they're always going to be on the edge of their seat with the fire season." Some community members return home While most residents have been evacuated, some are choosing to stay in the community despite a serious threat from a nearby forest fire, the chief said. "As of (Sunday) morning ... the number has gone up in terms of who's remaining in the community," Wabaseemoong Chief Waylon Scott said during a virtual media event. "Originally there were six community members that were left." "Now we're up to about 17 or 18 people that have chosen to come back home," Scott said. "That's despite informing them that the fire is is still a serious threat." And while most pets have also been evacuated, some dogs couldn't be taken out of Wabaseemoong, Scott said. "There are crews, volunteers that go out and feed the dogs," he said; dog food is being shipped into the community. Scott said so far, there hasn't been any damage to any structures in the community. Overall, as of Monday afternoon, there were seven active wildfires in the northwest region, said Alison Bezubiak, fire information office with AFFES. "Of those fires, two are under control, one is being observed and four are not under control," she said. "One new fire has been confirmed today and that has since been called out." The fires of concern include Kenora 20 and 14, as well as Fort Frances 4 and Sioux Lookout 3, Bezubiak said. Fort Frances 4 is north of Crystal Lake, and was listed as being nearly 3,600 hectares in size and not under control. Sioux Lookout 3, meanwhile, is north of Savant Lake, and was about 1,850 hectares on Monday afternoon. It's also not under control, Bezubiak said. "Fortunately, very little growth has been recorded on these fires over the past few days, and minimal fire behaviour has been observed as well," she said. That, Bezubiak said, was due to cooler, wet weather in the last few days. "These cooler temperatures and the precipitation that came with it did bring some relief to that hot dry weather that we were experiencing last week, and the escalated fire behaviour that came with it," she said. "This has allowed crews to make progress with their ongoing suppression efforts.: "But we are now entering a bit of a drying trend, and we're already starting to see that hazard start to rebound sort of around the the western side of the region," Bezubiak said. "That could result in us seeing some more increased fire behaviour on these active fires." Access to the area around each of those fires remains restricted due to orders issued by the MNR. "We would ask that residents in affected areas of please continue to obey the evacuation order and travel restrictions," Marchand said. "While we're temporarily seeing a bit of a lull in fire activity, the fire is still there, albeit in a less active state, and it can still pose a threat as conditions begin to dry out."
CTV News
11-05-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
More than half of Ontario's wildfires this year were in the northeast, MNR says
More than half of Ontario's 480 wildfires last summer were in northeastern Ontario, says data from the Ministry of Natural Resources. More than half of Ontario's wildfires this year were in the northeast, MNR says More than half of Ontario's 480 wildfires last summer were in northeastern Ontario, according to new data from the Ministry of Natural Resources. Across the province, nearly 90,000 hectares of forest burned. MNR fire officer Chris Marchand said 262 of those fires were in the northeast region, covering 19,000 hectares. Fires1 More than half of Ontario's 480 wildfires last summer were in northeastern Ontario, according to new data from the Ministry of Natural Resources. (File) Northwestern Ontario saw 218 wildfires, consuming a total of about 69,000 hectares. While it was a less active year in Ontario compared to 2024, crews were kept busy helping Canadian provinces. MNR Minister Graydon Smith said the province deployed equipment, 14 aircraft and close to 800 fire management personnel to Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Northwest Territories. 'I'm proud and thankful for the work of Ontario's FireRangers who bravely protect people and communities from wildland fire,' Smith said in a news release. 'Not only did our highly skilled FireRangers, pilots and staff behind the scenes provide crucial support here at home, they also helped our partners across Canada, sharing expertise when they were needed.' Ontario firefighters were also deployed to the United States this summer to help crews struggling to get a grip on fires in their country. 'When we have the capacity to offer assistance to our neighbouring provinces and our other neighbours, we will do that and, and vice versa,' Marchand said. Fires3 More than half of Ontario's 480 wildfires last summer were in northeastern Ontario, according to new data from the Ministry of Natural Resources. (File) Fires2 More than half of Ontario's 480 wildfires last summer were in northeastern Ontario, according to new data from the Ministry of Natural Resources. (File) Fire management crews said it's impossible to predict what sort of fire situation to expect in the summers ahead. Marchand said there are tons of weather trends and pattern variables that come into play during fire season. 'We really respond to that uncertainty by continuing to evolve and adapt our response as needed to protect communities and property in Ontario,' he said. To be best prepared, the Ford and Trudeau governments are partnering to spend $64 million to bolster firefighting efforts. That includes contracting more aircraft, creating new jobs and providing firefighters and investigators with the same access to benefits as their municipal counterparts. These investments, the ministry said, are being made to ensure that Ontario 'remains an internationally recognized leader in wildland fire management and coordinates the protection of 90 million hectares of Crown land.' 'It's very neat to see how everyone can work together within a common emergency management framework,' Marchand said.
