After weeks of escalation, rainfall has reduced wildfire hazards across northwestern Ontario

Recent rainfall has reduced the wildfire hazard across northwestern Ontario, though the region's largest wildfire is now more than 194,000 hectares large.

Red Lake 12 — the fire that has forced community evacuations in Deer Lake First Nation and Sandy Lake First Nation — remains not under control. However, precipitation and cooler temperatures have given FireRangers more breathing room over the past few days and have also reduced smoke levels.

"The impact of the recent precipitation is expected to keep fire behaviour minimal over the next few days," fire information officer Alison Bezubiak of Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) told CBC News on Tuesday.

However, thunderstorms this past weekend have created the potential for holdover fires caused by lightning, which crews will be monitoring over the next week, she said.

"Holdover fires can remain undetected and may not become visible until conditions dry out, winds increase and temperatures rise, sometimes surfacing more than a week after the initial strike," Bezubiak said.

Red Lake 12 has 23 firefighting crews assigned to three divisions on the fire's south and eastern perimeters, supported by 18 helicopters, including four heavy helicopters with increased bucketing capacity, Ontario Forest Fires said in its latest update.

As of Tuesday night, there were two dozen wildfires in the northwest, though only four were considered not under control. These include Sioux Lookout 18 near Cat Lake First Nation, which is more than 23,000 hectares large.

"An incident management team is assigned to this wildland fire, as well as 10 FireRanger crews and five helicopters," Ontario Forest Fires said. "Conditions are expected to continue drying gradually throughout the week."

Nipigon 5, the 10,800-hectare wildfire that prompted Webequie First Nation's evacuation, is now being held, and evacuees are back home.

Fire suppression gains made in Kenora area 

Crews have made significant headway in the Kenora fire management sector, as a fire known as Kenora 14 was officially called out on Monday. Other fires, Kenora 20 and Kenora 32, are now both under control as of Tuesday, Bezubiak said.

"Kenora 14 and Kenora 20 in particular were challenging fires in challenging locations. We commend the hundreds of firefighting personnel, overhead staff, flight crew, support staff, the incident management teams, everybody who dedicated their time and expertise to bringing these fires to their current status, which was also helped along by that recent rainfall," she said.

With summer officially here and festivities such as Canada Day coming up, Bezubiak said it's important for people to abide by outdoor burning regulations to prevent the spread of human-caused fires.

"We encourage anybody who's planning to celebrate Canada Day with fireworks to exercise extreme caution and consider attending an organized fireworks venue instead of setting off your own inside Ontario's fire region," she said.

For example, people can be charged under the Forest Fires Prevention Act for their part in wildfires caused by hot residue from fireworks.

"It is extremely important to extinguish any residue after setting off fireworks. It's also important to check with your local municipality, as they may have local burn bans or burn bylaws that prohibit the use of fireworks within municipalities," Bezubiak said.

Those planning to light a campfire are also reminded to "build your fire on rock or bare soil to prevent it from spreading, keep it small and fully extinguish it with water when you're done," she said.

People can check the status of the wildfires closest to them by accessing Ontario's interactive forest fire map online.