Forest fire activity in the North West region has been significantly lower than this time last year.
There have been 90 fires and 284 hectares of forest burned so far in 2013; that’s down from 161 fires and 767 hectares of burned forest from last year.
Ministry of Natural Resources fire information officer Debbie MacLean said there is a mixture of hazards in the region but the rain has dropped the hazard to low in the southern portion of the North West region.
“We still have a moderate to high hazard through the Sioux Lookout district and up north into the northern portions of the Nipigon district,” she said.
There are six active fires, including Nipigon fire 11, located about 60 kilometres southeast of Webequie First Nation.
“That was a fire that was originally assessed at 400 hectares and was remapped at 210 hectares,” MacLean said.
A group of about 21 people had to be evacuated from one mining camp to another as a precautionary measure due to smoke.
“The fire is now smoldering,” said MacLean. “It did respond well to our attack on May 29.”
Across Ontario there have been 154 fires and a total of 449 hectares burned.
