Storm Tracker

Six new fires were discovered in the region by the early evening of Tuesday, August 10, according to the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services.

There are 115 active fires in the northwest region. 14 fires are not under control, 3 fires are being held, 10 fires are under control and 88 fires are being monitored.

The forest fire hazard remains low to moderate throughout most of the region, with pockets of high to extreme risk in the far north and south.

The new fires are:

No new fires were discovered in the region by the early evening of Monday, August 9, according to the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services.

Kenora Fire 51, 20 km north of Wabaseemoong, has grown to 200,667 hectares, or 4.3 times bigger than the City of Winnipeg and remains active.

There are 114 active fires in the northwest region. 13 fires are not under control, 3 fires are being held, 11 fires are under control and 87 fires are being monitored.

Yesterday marked the opening of the Canadian border to fully vaccinated American tourists for the first time since March of 2020 and the Minaki Fire Department is reminding new tourists in the area that a Restricted Fire Zone is in place in the region, which restricts any sort of burning.

Two new fires were discovered in the region by the early evening of Sunday, August 8, according to the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services.

There are 117 active fires in the northwest region. 17 fires are not under control, 1 fire is being held, 12 fires are under control and 87 fires are being monitored.

The forest fire hazard in the region is low to moderate with pockets of high risk in the Kenora and Fort Frances area.

The two new fires are:

Three new fires were discovered last afternoon on August 6, 2021, according to the Aviation, Forest Fire, and Emergency Services.

The newly discovered fires are:

Northwestern Ontario is dealing with one of the worst forest fire seasons in years past with over 1000 fires discovered and more than 500,000 hectares burned.

Many firefighters from across Canada, Mexico and Australia have been called to assist Ontario firefighters to battle the many large fires in the region.

The Australian crews were requested by a Canadian agency for incident management teams.

Jeremy Stubbs is the Chief Superintendent with Fire and Rescue of New South Wales and the agency representative for the deployed Australian firefighters in Ontario.

Kenora Fire 51 remains north of Umfreville Lake, about 20 kilometres north of Wabaseemoong Independent Nation.

"That fire has burnt to the northern shore of Umfrenville Lake," said Fire Information Officer Chris Marchand. "It has not set up on the other side of the lake at this point, and that's a very good thing."

As a precaution, some community members from Wabaseemoong have started to evacuate. 

Two new fires were discovered in the region by the early evening of Thursday, August 5, according to the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services.

There are 119 active fires in the northwest region. A total of 18 fires are not under control, nine fires are being held, 13 fires are under control and 79 fires are being observed.

The wildland fire hazard in the northwest region is mainly low to moderate with areas of high hazard persisting in the Fort Frances, Dryden, and Thunder Bay sectors.

The new fires are:

The storm has passed.

Environment Canada has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Dryden, Vermilion Bay, Ignace, English River, and the surrounding communities.

The agency says conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms late this afternoon into this evening.

These thunderstorms will be capable of producing strong wind gusts up to 90 km/h and large hail up to 2 cm in diameter. Locally heavy rainfall will also be possible.

Kenora Fire 51, burning northwest of Kenora, has consumed more than 5,300 hectares and has grown in size to 197,549 hectares since Tuesday evening and is still burning out of control.

The fire is now 1,975.49 km² or roughly 4.25 times bigger than the City of Winnipeg.

The fire remains on the north side of Umfreville Lake, approximately 20 kilometres north of Wabaseemoong Independent Nation.

As a precaution, Wabaseemoong began to evacuate vulnerable populations and those with underlying health conditions on Wednesday.