Fire crews continue to battle forest fire as hazard reaches high, extreme in northwestern Ontario

Fire crews with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry continue to battle a number of forest fires in northwestern Ontario, with three new fires added to the list as of Monday evening.

One fire, Red Lake Fire 42, which was located in Pikangikum First Nation, was declared out at 0.1 hectares, according to fire information officer Jonathan Scott.

Two new fires — Red Lake 43, located near Trough Lake, approximately 40 kilometres northwest of Red Lake and Red Lake 44, near Frances Lake, approximately 120 kilometres northwest of Red Lake — were also listed as not under control.

Scott said Red Lake fire 23, located approximately 16 kilometres southwest of Keewaywin First Nation is now larger than 37,000 hectares and an incident team is on its way to set up infrastructure to protect values on the land.

He said wind from the northwest was keeping the smoke away from the community on Tuesday.

Another fire that’s not under control is Red Lake 40, according to Scott, which has been remapped at 2,832 hectares.

Located near Nungesser Lake, approximately 40 kilometres north of Red Lake, he said fire crews are focusing on roads and buildings as tankers continue to fight the flames.

Red Lake 38 is also not under control as water bombers were assigned to the fire on Sunday, and sprinklers have been set up on structures near the Cairns River.

According to a written release, there are currently 19 active fires in the northwestern Ontario region. A total of six are not under control, two fires are being held, five fires are under control and six fires are being observed.

The forest fire hazard was listed as high to extreme across the region.