The fire season in the West Fire Region has been unusually quiet this year, with a total of 195 fires reported since April 1, the Ministry of Natural Resources said Monday morning.
This is in stark contrast to last August, when the MNR had seen almost 800 over that same time period, noted MNR fire information officer Deb McLean.
A year ago, the fire hazard was “high to extreme” across the entire West Fire Region as hot weather and numerous thunderstorms resulted in a Restricted Fire Zone extending west from Lake Nipigon and the Nipigon River, south of the CN line, and west to the Red Lake and Kenora districts.
The RFZ also included most of Dryden District, the south half of the Red Lake and Thunder Bay districts, and all of the Kenora and Fort Frances districts, including Quetico Provincial Park.
“It’s been an interesting season. In terms of numbers, it’s definitely less busy than last year,” noted McLean. “But there’s always something active, in one form or another, throughout the whole season.”
McLean said the fire hazard across the region currently is “low to moderate,” although there are some pockets that have received little or no rain recently and are in the “high” range.
But she warned given the terrain of the West Fire Region, with sandy soil and conifer trees, it only takes a few days of windy, dry weather for the fire hazard index to jump.
Accordingly, MNR fire management must always monitor the weather and fire conditions, and firefighters always have to stay alert.
Seven fires were still active in the West Fire Region after the weekend, but most simply are being monitored as they burn in isolated locations.
Fort Frances District currently has two fires, covering about 9.5 ha. Both of these are burning in Quetico Provincial Park, where natural fire started by lightning can be managed to allow for renewal within the forest, said McLean.
Fort Frances District has seen a total of 36 fires to date, consuming 1,253.6 ha. This accounts for most of the 1,355.5 ha. in total that has burned in the region since the start of the fire season April 1.
Nipigon District currently has three active fires, covering 2.1 ha. The most recent of these—Nipigon Fire #35 on the Black Bay peninsula in Lake Superior—is smoldering on the edge of a burned-over area from a forest fire that had burned there in previous years.
Nipigon District has seen 35 fires to date, charring a total of 15.4 ha.
Meanwhile, Red Lake District has two “under control” fires burning at the moment, together covering around 1.5 ha.
Dryden, Kenora, Sioux Lookout, and Thunder Bay districts had no new fires over the weekend. Dryden District has had 13 fires to date, consuming 5.6 hectares, while Kenora has seen a total of 24, which have burned only 8.3 ha.
Sioux Lookout District has had 25 fires to date, consuming a total of 34.4 ha., while Thunder Bay has seen 41 fires since April 1, which burned 21.7 ha.
In related news, three (20-person) crews from the West Fire Region and two (20-person) crews from the East Fire Region are slated to depart Tuesday for British Columbia.
Another deployment of five (20-person) crews is expected to follow this dispatch sometime later this week.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
