Six forest fires were confirmed in a popular cottage area yesterday afternoon, says Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES).
As of last night (June 23) the Watabeag Lake-area fires were not under control and some residents have left the area as a precautionary measure.
Watabeag Lake is near Matheson and all of the fires received aerial fire suppression yesterday, along with four FireRanger crews being on site.
The AFFES reports the confirmed fires are:
- Kirkland Lake 8 measures 1 hectare. It is located near the north shore of Watabeag Lake and just east of Brown Lake.
- Kirkland Lake 9 is 0.1 of a hectare and is located along the southwestern shore of Watabeag Lake.
- Kirkland Lake 10 is 0.4 of a hectare and is located northwest of Watabeag Lake.
- Kirkland Lake 11 is located on the west side of Watabeag Lake and 1 kilometre south of Toy Lake. It measures 0.2 of a hectare.
- Kirkland Lake 12 is 0.4 of a hectare and is located near the southwest shore of Watabeag Lake, approximately half of a kilometre southwest of Big Island.
- Kirkland Lake 13 measures 0.2 of a hectare and is located approximately half of a kilometre east of Leziert Creek on the southwest side of Watabeag Lake.
Two other fires were reported in the northeast yesterday.
Cochrane 17 is about six kilometres northeast of Cochrane on the southern shore of Sunset Lake. It is not under control at 01Wawa 7 is under control at 0.2 hectares. It's located half a kilometre southeast of Tarpon Lake on the west side of Highway 17.
The fires of not that aren't under control according to AFFES are:
- Cochrane 7 was confirmed on June 2. It is 18,400 hectares and located northeast of Lake Abitibi. Intense fire behaviour has been noted this week. Several helicopters, two teams of heavy equipment and five fire crews are dedicated to this fire. CL415s from Ontario and Quebec were on the scene of this fire yesterday, along with two bucketing helicopters.
- Cochrane 11 was confirmed on June 17. It is estimated to be 300 hectares in size and is located about five kilometres west of the community of Fort Albany and south of Big Island. High fire intensity was exhibited on Wednesday and aerial fire suppression helped to lower fire activity on June 21. Friday, a belly tanker helicopter continued to work in conjunction with crews on the ground on the active fire, with good progress being made.
- Cochrane 12 is located approximately eight kilometres west of Attawapiskat and measures 68.2 hectares. It has been responding well to fire suppression efforts.
- Cochrane 16 is located approximately 8 kilometres south of Moose Factory and is estimated at 4 hectares in size. Two FireRangers crews are working to establish a hoseline around the perimeter of the fire.
- Chapleau 3 was confirmed on June 1. It is a 3,916-hectare fire located 2 kilometres south of October Lake and 2.5 kilometres west of Vichaw Lake.
- Chapleau 6 was confirmed on June 4. It is a 1,239-hectare fire located 2.5 kilometres west of Morin Lake and 1 kilometre east of Bolkow Lake.
- Sudbury 10 was confirmed on June 2. It measures 1,370 hectares and is located 3 kilometres west of Fox Lake and 5 kilometres east of Acheson Lake.
- Sudbury 17 was confirmed June 4. It is a 5,857-hectare fire located 3 kilometres west of Madawanson Lake and 0.5 kilometres east of Pilot Lake. Multiple crews are committed to the fire. It is not under control.
As of June 23, there were 27 active fires in the northeast. Of those, 17 were not under control, one is being held, eight were under control and one is being observed.
The fire hazard across the region is high to extreme. Timmins remains under a fire ban, with no open-air burning being allowed.
