After weeks of escalation, rainfall has reduced wildfire hazards across northwestern Ontario

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 1:55 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Recent rainfall has reduced the wildfire hazard crossed northwestern Ontario, though the region's largest wildfire is present much than 194,000 hectares large.

Red Lake 12 — the occurrence that has forced assemblage evacuations successful Deer Lake First Nation and Sandy Lake First Nation — remains not nether control. However, precipitation and cooler temperatures person fixed FireRangers much breathing country implicit the past fewer days and person besides reduced fume levels.

"The interaction of the caller precipitation is expected to support occurrence behaviour minimal implicit the adjacent fewer days," occurrence accusation serviceman Alison Bezubiak of Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) told CBC News connected Tuesday.

However, thunderstorms this past weekend person created the imaginable for holdover fires caused by lightning, which crews volition beryllium monitoring implicit the adjacent week, she said.

"Holdover fires tin stay undetected and whitethorn not go disposable until conditions adust out, winds summation and temperatures rise, sometimes surfacing much than a week aft the archetypal strike," Bezubiak said.

Red Lake 12 has 23 firefighting crews assigned to 3 divisions connected the fire's southbound and eastbound perimeters, supported by 18 helicopters, including 4 dense helicopters with accrued bucketing capacity, Ontario Forest Fires said successful its latest update.

As of Tuesday night, determination were 2 twelve wildfires successful the northwest, though lone 4 were considered not nether control. These include Sioux Lookout 18 adjacent Cat Lake First Nation, which is much than 23,000 hectares large.

"An incidental absorption squad is assigned to this wildland fire, arsenic good arsenic 10 FireRanger crews and 5 helicopters," Ontario Forest Fires said. "Conditions are expected to proceed drying gradually passim the week."

Nipigon 5, the 10,800-hectare wildfire that prompted Webequie First Nation's evacuation, is present being held, and evacuees are backmost home.

Fire suppression gains made successful Kenora area 

Crews person made important headway successful the Kenora occurrence absorption sector, arsenic a occurrence known arsenic Kenora 14 was officially called retired connected Monday. Other fires, Kenora 20 and Kenora 32, are present some nether power arsenic of Tuesday, Bezubiak said.

"Kenora 14 and Kenora 20 successful peculiar were challenging fires successful challenging locations. We commend the hundreds of firefighting personnel, overhead staff, formation crew, enactment staff, the incidental absorption teams, everybody who dedicated their clip and expertise to bringing these fires to their existent status, which was besides helped on by that caller rainfall," she said.

With summertime officially present and festivities specified arsenic Canada Day coming up, Bezubiak said it's important for radical to abide by outdoor burning regulations to forestall the dispersed of human-caused fires.

"We promote anybody who's readying to observe Canada Day with fireworks to workout utmost caution and see attending an organized fireworks venue alternatively of mounting disconnected your ain wrong Ontario's occurrence region," she said.

For example, radical tin beryllium charged nether the Forest Fires Prevention Act for their portion successful wildfires caused by blistery residue from fireworks.

"It is highly important to extinguish immoderate residue aft mounting disconnected fireworks. It's besides important to cheque with your section municipality, arsenic they whitethorn person section pain bans oregon pain bylaws that prohibit the usage of fireworks wrong municipalities," Bezubiak said.

Those readying to airy a campfire are besides reminded to "build your occurrence connected stone oregon bare ungraded to forestall it from spreading, support it tiny and afloat extinguish it with h2o erstwhile you're done," she said.

People tin cheque the presumption of the wildfires closest to them by accessing Ontario's interactive wood occurrence representation online.