THUNDER BAY – Despite a two-week-long fire ban across Northwestern Ontario, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry responded to 11 human-caused wildfires every day over the May long weekend.
“We have all of these resources committed and we’re still running into a major problem with people not adhering to the ban,” said MNRF fire information officer Debbie MacLean.
Ministry staff laid charges for illegal campfires, bonfires and garbage fires across the region.
MacLean said teams are fighting forest fires in the Kenora, Fort Frances, Red Lake, Wawa, Nipigon, Greenstone and Thunder Bay districts, along with a 75,000-hectare fire in Woodland Caribou Provincial Park and adding double-digit, human-caused fires to that workload daily is putting undue strain on the MNRF’s capacity.
“It’s a combination of the commitment of resources and the actual current fire situation we’re dealing with,” MacLean said.
“Along with the rain, we’ve received lightning particularly in the northern sections of the region.”
Lighting a fire while a ban is in effect can carry fines of up to $1,000 and as much as three months in jail.
The ministry has yet to tabulate all the charges laid over the weekend but MacLean confirmed investigations are underway that could lead to fining those who set wildfires to cover the entire cost of suppressing those fires.
“We do appreciate the cooperation of people who are adhering to the restricted fire zone. Every fire they do not set is one less fire that might become a wildfire,” MacLean said.
“The people who are not cooperating and deciding to disregard the law -- which they do run the risk of not only getting fined and having charges laid against them -- but the fire they set could turn into a wildfire and there’s the potential for them to have to pay the cost of putting that fire out.”
A new fire in the Thunder Bay region is burning out of control about 40 kilometres north of Raith. An Incident Management Team has been assigned to fighting the 1,200-hectare blaze known as Thunder Bay 19, which is threatening values committed to the forestry industry.
