Evacuees head home, forest fires still burning across Northwest

Residents of a far north First Nations community will return home starting Wednesday after forest fires forced them from their homes last week.

More than 500 people from Deer Lake were evacuated to Greenstone Friday, July 8. All residents are expected to be back home by Friday.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources information officer Deb MacLean said the officials with the province and Deer Lake council have been in regular consultation. Incident management teams monitoring the three fires around the community have reported good progress and no size increases to the fires.

Residents were evacuated because of smoke, which continues to be a problem across the Ontario’s north.

An assessment of Red Lake Fire No. 84, which knocked out power to several northern communities, shows that crews might be able to start repairing hydro lines near the 5,300-hectare fire.

Slate Falls, Cat Lake, Pickle Lake, Mishkeegogamang and Musselwhite Mine are without power.

MacLean said crews are working on the fire, which is still not under control. The size of the fire could also change at any time depending on the weather.

"We do have water bombers and ranger crews in there working on this fire," MacLean said.

"Eventually, of course, the plan is to have a perimeter around the entire fire work its way in and put it dead out. But for now they’re working on key points protecting the hydro line and outpost camps in the area."

The region had 82 active fires burning 125,890 hectares of land as of Wednesday morning.

That’s more than three times the size of the city of Thunder Bay.

MacLean added that at least until Friday there’s no cloud cover in site, which will most likely make for more fires in Northwestern Ontario. Some fires that have been smoldering might start to pick up again.

"That is definitely going to provide the conditions that will bring these fires back to life," said MacLean.