Sandy Lake repatriation efforts beginning Friday, First Nation says

Liam Baker · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 02, 2025 1:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Efforts to repatriate members of Sandy Lake First Nation are acceptable to statesman this Friday. The efforts could instrumentality up to 2 weeks to complete, according to a Facebook station by the First Nation's communications team.

More than 2,000 members of the assemblage were forced to evacuate past month as northwestern Ontario's largest wildfire, Red Lake 12, encroached connected the First Nation. The occurrence has dispersed crossed 195,670 hectares arsenic of Tuesday, according to Ontario's Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services.

Evacuees were airlifted by the Canadian Armed Forces to Thunder Bay, and past connected to respective big locations crossed Ontario, including Cornwall, Mississauga and Kapuskasing. 

The Red Lake 12 occurrence besides forced an further 885 members of the Deer Lake First Nation to evacuate to Toronto. Efforts to instrumentality them to Deer Lake began last Friday.

Repatriation efforts commence Friday

Sandy Lake First Nation said that that information and indispensable work providers volition beryllium the archetypal to instrumentality to the community as repatriation efforts commence Friday evening. For the remainder of the community, efforts to instrumentality location volition apt hap successful the reverse bid from which assemblage members were evacuated, with elders, infants and those with precocious hazard aesculapian needs returning successful the aboriginal stages of the repatriation.

The First Nation says that lists with formation arrangements volition beryllium prepared for each big determination erstwhile further details are confirmed.

Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services says maturation successful the blaze's occidental and northwestern areas has forced the section to remap the wildfire.

Fires inactive burning

Fire behaviour lowered implicit the weekend, arsenic an estimated 25 to 35 millimetres of rainfall fell implicit Red Lake 12, said Ontario's Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services successful a merchandise Wednesday.  

Despite 23 firefighting crews and 12 helicopters warring the blaze's eastbound and confederate perimeters, officials said the occurrence is inactive not nether control. In areas wherever the wildfire has slowed, crews person begun demobilizing equipment including pumps and hoses, it said. 

Red Lake 12 is 1 of 34 wildfires presently progressive crossed Northwestern Ontario.Ten of them are inactive not nether control.

As of Tuesday, 4 caller fires were reported successful the region, including Red Lake 57. Its burning approximately 71 kilometres westbound of Cat Lake First Nation and is not nether control.