THUNDER BAY — There’s no end in sight to Whitesand First Nation’s evacuation, Chief Lawrence Wanakamik said Thursday. “But we’ll see next week,” Wanakamik told Newswatch… The chief said he heard earlier this week from band members who are still on the reserve next to Armstrong, and they said all buildings there are still standing. Whitesand and Armstrong, about 220 kilometres north of the city, evacuated last week as a raging forest fire neared the communities. The blaze, which has merged with other wildfires and is now labelled Thunder Bay 36, remains out of control and spans over 315,000 hectares — making it not just the largest wildfire of the 2026 season, but the largest ever recorded in Ontario. The mega-blaze measured at 318,813 hectares Wednesday evening but was re-mapped for accuracy at 315,431 hectares the next day. That far exceeds the previous provincial record of 196,974 hectares set by last year’s Red Lake 12 wildland fire.