Firefighters have work cut out amid one of the worst fire seasons on record

With 30 years of experience with the Ministry of Natural Resources under his belt, Owen Vaughan said this summer’s forest fire situation could be the worst the North has seen.

“It certainly is the most challenging,” said the fire information officer Tuesday afternoon.
There were 104 fires burning in Northern Ontario as of Monday evening; 16 of those were new.

Vaughan said MNR fire crews were expecting Tuesday to be the most difficult day of the fire season so far.

“Fire behaviour in the conditions in the field with hot temperatures and dusty winds anticipated, our fire crews expect to experience extreme fire behaviour as a result of that,” he said. “We are crossing our fingers … certainly fire boundaries are going to expand today.”

More than 2,160 people have been evacuated from northern communities and Vaughan said they anticipate many more will need to be removed in the coming days.

There are 1,400 personnel fighting the forest fires; 1,000 are MNR staff in addition to 200 British Columbia firefighters and 200 Type 2 contract crews. Another 250 firefighters and support staff are expected to arrive this week from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon.

There are also 117 aircraft committed to the fire fight including seven birddogs, 80 helicopters, 16 transport aircraft and 14 CL 415s.

Some of the major hotspots are the Sioux Lookout no. 70, Red Lake no. 84 and a cluster of fires in the Sandy Lake First Nation area, said Vaughan.

“When you look at the map, it’s amazing to see how many fires,” he said. “You can’t even read (the map); numbers on top of other numbers, there are so many.”