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.

An evacuation order, meanwhile, has been issued by the MNR for the Kenora 20 fire area.

"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."