With periodic dousings of rain and cooler temperatures of late, the Ministry of Natural Resources has gotten a bit of a break battling forest fires in the Fort Frances area.
“We don’t have any fires burning in the district, and the fire hazard is ‘low’ to ‘moderate,’” said Marnie Brown, sector response officer with the Fort Frances Fire HQ.
“Our last fire was about a week ago. And prior to that, a week-anda- half,” she added, noting both those were caused by lightning.
“Things are definitely quiet.”^There also are currently no fires in the Kenora and Thunder Bay districts.
But while there are no Restricted Fire Zones in place at this time, Brown stressed people shouldn’t become complacent when dealing with fire.
“People should use extreme caution with any open burning,” she remarked, adding it doesn’t take long for grassy areas to dry out.
While the fire hazard is “low” to “moderate” across the entire West Fire Region, 16 fires continue to burn in the northernmost areas— including three in Nipigon District, five in Red Lake District, and eight in Sioux Lookout District.
With the reduced workload here, the local headquarters has been able to spare some manpower.
“We have five crews out of town—two in Wawa and three in Sioux Lookout,” said Brown.
“There’s also an assortment of staff acting in suppport roles.”^The only other fire in the region is one blaze in the Dryden District.
The West Fire Region has seen a total of 470 blazes since the fire season began April 1, consuming a total of 261,369.70 ha.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
