Evacuation order remains in effect as Kenora 20 still 'significant fire of concern' for northwestern Ontario

An evacuation order issued Tuesday afternoon remains in effect for residents and cottagers in parts of northwestern Ontario due to the continuing threat of wildfires in the area.

Chris Marchand, a fire information officer in the northwest region for the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services Branch, said Kenora 20 "remains a significant fire of concern" in the northwest region.

The fire, which originated in Ingolf on Monday afternoon, has since travelled approximately 43 kilometres to the north and has now approached to within 2.5 kilometres of the community of Wabaseemoong, Marchand told CBC News Wednesday afternoon.

"The community underwent an evacuation yesterday and at the moment there's just a few key personnel and firefighting staff remaining in the town," Marchand said. 

"Today we're seeing CL-415 waterbombers providing air attack on the parts of the fire that are closest to the community, and crews on the ground are setting up sprinkler systems on the town's critical infrastructure and other priority structures."

Marchand said Ingolf is a cottage subdivision that is in Ontario but is usually accessed via Highway 321 from Manitoba.

On Tuesday the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry [MNRF] established an evacuation order and travel access restrictions to areas near the Kenora 20 and Kenora 14 fires to ensure public safety and effective firefighting. 

Also on Tuesday, the leadership of Wabaseemoong Independent Nation issued an evacuation notice urging people to leave.

"Kenora Fire 14 is approximately 1,379 hectares and burning roughly 12 kilometres north of Wabaseemoong," the notice reads. "Kenora Fire 20 is now over 8,000 hectares, increasing rapidly and causing significant smoke and fire risk to Wabaseemoong and its members."

The notice from Wabaseemoong chief and council said they want to assure the community that people's safety and health is their top priority.

"Leadership is working diligently with multiple levels of government, MNRF, as well as community partners to establish all levels of support we can for members," the notice continues.

'Extreme fire behaviour and really fast rates of spread'

Meanwhile, Marchand said "extreme fire behaviour and really fast rates of spread have seen this fire grow to approximately 23,281 hectares since Monday afternoon and it remains not under control."

He said officials still do not know what caused the fire, but FireRanger crews and bucketing helicopters are currently working in the Ingolf area where it originated, maintaining sprinkler systems on the local structures and looking to where they can establish hose lines in that area.

Marchand said while he can confirm that there have been structures lost in the fire, specific information about those losses were not immediately available.

Looking ahead, Marchand said there is the prospect of some meaningful rainfall in the fire area, approximately 15 to 20 mm from Thursday into Friday, "which we're hoping will materialize," adding that "a rainfall event like that would help to moderate the extreme fire behavior we're observing and and buy us a little bit of time to get FireRanger crews established on some of these fires."

New fires

The MNRF said six new fires were confirmed in the Northwest Region as of the evening of May 13: 

• Kenora 21 (KEN021) is located on Indian Island in Lake Lulu, approximately 15.0 kilometres west of Kenora. The 1.0-hectare fire is under control.

• Sioux Lookout 3 (SLK003) is located along Highway 599 between Savant Lake and the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen. The Ontario Provincial Police have closed Highway 599 to allow crews to work. The fire is currently measuring 2000 hectares in size and is not under control. Crews are focused on the protection of human life and values. The fire received aerial suppression support from CL415 waterbombers throughout the day.

• Sioux Lookout 4 (SLK004) is located north of Mullen Lake, approximately 11.0 kilometres east of Sioux Lookout. The 0.1-hectare fire is currently being observed.

• Nipigon 2 (NIO002) is located approximately 0.4 Kilometres south of Highway 11 near Wildgoose Lake. The 1.5 hectare fire is not under control.

• Kenora 22 (KEN022) is located near the north end of Dogpaw Lake. Approximately 9.3 kilometres east oh Highway 71. The 0.1-hectare fire is not under control.

• Kenora 23 (KEN023) is located near Big Island approximately 5.6 kilometres northwest of the community of Grassy Narrows First Nation. The 0.5-hectare fire is not under control.