Category Archives: Forest Fires

Residents on both sides of the Ottawa shouldn’t expect any short-term relief from forest fire-driven air quality problems, a pair of Environment and Climate Change Canada scientists reported Wednesday. While some heavy rain is expected in the next few days, most of it will will land in the north and is not expected to have much of an effect on the fires raging in Northern Quebec. At an online news conference, the scientists showed satellite images indicating potentially dangerous levels of smoke and particulates over the next few days trending from the north into southern Ontario, from Ottawa to Windsor. As for rain that could help extinguish the fires raging in the north, most of the precipitation will likely land in the southern regions, they said.

Residents of Lebel-sur-Quévillon, who were forced to leave the community for the second time in a month because of forest fires, can gradually return home as of Saturday, July 1. But the small municipality in northern Quebec is not out of the woods yet. Mayor Guy Lafrenière shared the news with residents in a Facebook video Wednesday. He said the process of reopening the city would begin Thursday, with residents allowed to return on Saturday. Details will be shared on Thursday. …The Cree community of Mistissini also lifted its evacuation order Tuesday evening, and residents can return as of Wednesday. Approximately 3,800 members of the First Nation had to leave their homes last week.

This week’s rainfall likely won’t be enough to extinguish the wildfires in northern Quebec, but the wet weather could give firefighters a chance to get ahead of the flames, officials said Tuesday. Quebec forest fire prevention agency SOPFEU is evaluating the effects of recent rainfall, Katia Petit, Quebec associate deputy minister for civil protection, told reporters. “If enough rain falls, it will allow SOPFEU personnel to intensify their work directly in the field, to work on the fires and prevent them from starting up again once the dry weather returns,” Petit said. Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said he expects rain to stop falling by Wednesday morning in the regions most affected by forest fires. He said warm, sunny weather could return thereafter with a chance of only isolated showers through the weekend. …Meanwhile, NASA is reporting that smoke from the wildfires in northern Quebec has reached Europe.

Ontario’s Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources says it’s making “good progress” on a fire five kilometres west of the community of Fort Albany First Nation, along the James Bay coast. The ministry said in an update on Sunday that the Cochrane 11 fire was confirmed on June 17 and is estimated to be 805 hectares in size. “A belly tanker helicopter continues to work in conjunction with crews on the ground on the active wildland fire which is not under control,” the update said. More than 500 people were flown out of the community last week and have been staying in hotels in the towns of Kapuskasing and Val Rita. …Planned evacuations in the neighbouring community of Kashechewan, across the Albany River, were put on hold during the weekend after a shift in wind direction pushed smoke away from the First Nation.

Despite a wet weekend in some parts of northwestern Ontario, there are currently no plans to lift the region’s restricted fire zone, the province said Monday.  The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry put the restricted fire zone in place on June 1 due to the high forest fire hazard in the region. … Though some southern parts of the region received anywhere from five to 25 milimetres of rain this weekend, officials said that’s likely nothing more than a “short-term reprieve” from the high to extreme fire hazards, which should return in the next few days.  “Hazard conditions in the south, where that rain did fall, are expected to rebound within a day or two with the hot, dry, and windy weather that we have in store for us,” said Chris Marchand, fire information office with Ontario’s Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES).  

OTTAWA – The number of forest fires burning across Canada crept higher over the last week and more dangerous air quality warnings were issued in parts of Ontario and Quebec Sunday.  The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, known as CIFFC, reported 465 active fires burning across the country, including 240 that are out of control. Almost one-quarter of those fires are in Quebec, and Environment Canada warned wind patterns were causing smoke from some of those blazes to settle over the western part of the province as well as eastern Ontario.  …The record-breaking fire season and expectation of continued hot, dry weather has some cities also cancelling or reconsidering fireworks planned for Canada Day next weekend.  …The number of fires actively burning has jumped over the last week. CIFFC reported 412 active fires with 208 out of control on June 18. Ontario and Alberta saw the biggest spikes in fire activity.

Hunter Sousa

Eighteen-year-old Hunter Sousa from Maine celebrated his high school graduation by hopping in a truck and heading to Nova Scotia to fight the biggest forest fire in the province’s history.  Mr. Sousa works for the Maine forest service as an on-call firefighter, but had never before fought a fire. The call from his superior came on a Thursday.  “They said they’d be meeting in Bangor Friday night and I had my graduation Friday night, so I graduated and got my diploma, and headed to Bangor and met with the rest of the crew, and then we headed to Nova Scotia,” he said in a recent interview.  Mr. Sousa is one of the many foreign firefighters who were pressed into service as Canada battles its worst wildfire season in recent memory. Hailing from 10 different countries on five continents, they’ve been battling flames, fatigue and mosquitoes during stints of 14 consecutive days or more in unfamiliar conditions.

Fort Albany continues to evacuate with a wildfire still burning out of control dangerously close to the community on northern Ontario’s James Bay Coast. About 500 people who were rushed out as the fire spread toward the First Nation on Wednesday have now been taken to hotels in the towns of Kapuskasing and Val Rita. The 200 or so who remain in Fort Albany started to be airlifted out on Thursday evening. Deputy Chief Terry Metatawabin said one of the big concerns now is how close the flames are to the hydro line that brings electricity to Fort Albany, as well as the communities of Kashechewan and Attawapiskat. …”We just ask for your prayers for this fire crew that’s literally, literally fighting the fire right now to make sure that power line does not get disrupted. If it comes any closer, we would have to shut the power off.” 

Additional coverage in CBC News by Sergio Arangio: Hundreds evacuated in Far North First Nation as forest fires rage

Several Quebec communities were told to prepare for evacuations on Wednesday, as the province’s forests minister warned that firefighters were on the verge of losing control of dozens of fires that were previously contained. Maïté Blanchette Vézina told reporters that hot and dry conditions were fuelling the fires in many parts of the province, allowing some that were considered contained to regain strength. “What we announced, and what will probably happen in the next days, is that fires that were contained — we’re talking about 40 contained fires — could go out of control,” she said. Blanchette Vézina said the greatest areas of concern were the Lac-St-Jean region north of Quebec City; northern Quebec; and the Abitibi region in the northwest. She said a fire that came within 500 metres of Normétal, northwest of Montreal, was among those that were out of control, although the flames were spreading west toward the Ontario border, away from the community.

A fly-in First Nation on Ontario’s James Bay Coast was forced to quickly evacuate Wednesday afternoon with a fast-spreading forest fire less than two kilometres away.  What started as a small wildfire around noon was whipped up by the wind and within hours had people in Fort Albany watching walls of flame move swiftly toward their isolated community of 700.  “We’re declaring a state of emergency and we’re going to be evacuating starting right now,” Fort Albany Chief Elizabeth Kataquapit said in a Facebook video post.  “So get ready. Get your kids ready. Keep them in the home and pack everything, whatever you need while we go and figure everything out.” By Wednesday night, she was urging people to get onto evacuation planes bound for Moosonee.  Dozens of other people were picked up by boats that crossed the Albany River from the neighbouring community of Kashechewan.

There were 51 active forest fires in Ontario, including 20 in the northeast Monday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources. “So after a relatively slow start to the fire season in Ontario, the past few weeks are seeing a significant number of new starts,” said Isabelle Chenard, a fire information officer for the northeast, with the province’s Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services. So far this year there have been 276 forest fires across northern Ontario, which have burned 110,000 hectares. During the same period last year there were 87 fires, which burned 2,382 hectares. But Chenard said last year’s fire season was relatively mild, and the 10-year average for this time of year is 203 fires and 73,000 hectares burned. With hot and dry weather in the forecast, fire bans remain in effect across most provincial parks in Ontario.

QUEBEC – Officials say firefighters are still struggling to control wildfires in two Quebec regions as the situation has improved in the rest of the province. As of Thursday afternoon, there were over 100 active fires in the southern half of the province and another 20 in the far north. The province’s forest fire prevention agency — SOPFEU — classified 26 of the southern fires as out of control. SOPFEU official Sylvain Tremblay told a press conference that rainfall hasn’t been sufficient to halt the progression of fires in the northern and western parts of the province. Fire officials are concerned about the behaviour of wildfires in those two regions as firefighters try to maintain what progress they have made.

HALIFAX – All of Nova Scotia’s wildfires are now under control, more than two weeks after an unprecedented string of fires broke out in the southwestern corner of the province and in the Halifax area.  The provincial government has announced that the huge Barrington Lake wildfire in Shelburne County, which started May 27, is finally under control — the last of the wildfires to be tamed.  That fire grew to more than 235 square kilometres, the largest recorded in the province’s history.  The fire forced more than 6,000 people from their homes and destroyed 60 houses and cottages, as well as 150 other structures.  Firefighters from the province’s Natural Resources Department, the Department of National Defence, Newfoundland and Labrador and the United States are still on the scene to extinguish hot spots.

MONTREAL – Rain in the forecast and the pending arrival of dozens of foreign firefighters raised hopes that Quebec’s more than 7,000 fire evacuees would be able to return home in the coming days, the province’s public security minister said Tuesday. François Bonnardel told reporters that rain showers and cooler temperatures were expected to move into northwestern Quebec, where powerful forest fires have threatened the towns of Lebel-sur-Quévillon and Normétal. The rain should provide some relief to firefighters over the next three or four days — and hopefully bring good news for displaced residents eager to return home, Bonnardel said. “People want a little hope,” he told reporters Tuesday in Montreal. “I’m going to try to give them some by telling them that with the weather forecasts for the next hours, we should be able to give you good news in the next 24, 48 hours.”

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is currently fighting or monitoring three dozen active forest fires across Northwestern Ontario. Nine of these fires were discovered Sunday, including a 37-hectare blaze about 16 kilometres west of Ogoki Lake. It’s the largest of the new blazes, and is not under control. Other outbreaks discovered in the Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Nipigon and Red Lake districts range in size from 0.1 hectare to six hectares. The ministry on Sunday also updated its fire summary for Saturday, saying it had discovered four additional fires on Saturday evening. The largest was an eight-hectare outbreak in the Red Lake district. …The current fire danger rating across the Northwest is mostly high.

Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources says there are 68 wildfires burning across the north of the province. A spokesperson says 26 of those fires are not under control, 18 are under control, 16 are being observed, and eight are being held. Since Sunday, 14 new fires were discovered and eight were extinguished. The ministry says there is heavy smoke across northeastern Ontario due to fires both in the province and in Quebec, with the smoke travelling as far north as Timmins and south past Sudbury and Parry Sound. Most of northern Ontario is under a high or extreme risk of wildfires. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has urged people in every region of the province not to light camp fires.

Thousands of residents from Chibougamau, Que., and other municipalities started making their way home Monday morning after having been forced to leave due several forest fires raging in the province. During a news conference Monday morning, Premier François Legault said residents would soon begin to return to Lac-Barrière, Oujé-Bougoumou, Waswanipi, Obedjuwan and Lac-Simon. The premier says there will be fewer than 4,000 displaced people left by the end of the day, mostly residents from Normétal, Lebel-sur-Quévillon, Beaucanton, Val-Paradis and Saint-Lambert.  Chibougamau Mayor Manon Cyr says she feels relieved.