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Campers fined for starting a forest fire

Two canoeists have been fined $7,000 for a campfire that went out of control.
2014-09-20 Bushplane Day DH-11
FILE PHOTO: MNR waterbombing demonstration. Donna Hopper/SooToday

Two Manitoba men are $7,000 out-of-pocket after being convicted of lighting a campfire that went out of control in a restricted fire zone.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says a pair of back-country canoeists from Winnipeg camped on an island on Bain Lake in the District of Kenora on the Victoria Day weekend last year.

Although a Restricted Fire Zone was in place due to a high fire hazard, the men built a campfire that subsequently escaped, resulting in most of the island being burned.

The fire was extinguished by MNRF fire rangers, partly by air attack.

After pleading guilty recently in a Kenora court, the men were fined $500 each for starting a fire without a permit, and were ordered to pay $3,000 each toward the cost of putting out the fire.





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