Special air quality statements in effect in northwestern Ontario as wildfires spread

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: May 09, 2025 2:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

A fig of communities successful northwestern Ontario are nether peculiar aerial prime statements owed to fume from adjacent wildfires.

As of Thursday evening, determination were 5 progressive wildfires successful the northwest region. Of those, 1 is nether power portion the remaining 4 are not nether control.

The pursuing communities are nether peculiar aerial prime statements arsenic of Friday morning: 

• Kenora — Grassy Narrows — Whitedog.
• Sioux Narrows — Nestor Falls — Morson.
• Fort Frances — Emo — Rainy River.

Of peculiar interest is simply a occurrence known arsenic Kenora 14, which is adjacent Caribou Falls Dam and 12 kilometres northbound of Wabaseemoong Independent Nations.

While the occurrence was astir 0.5 hectares ample connected Thursday evening, it has grown to 245 hectares arsenic of Friday morning.

"The wildland occurrence hazard is precocious to utmost successful the Red Lake assemblage with precocious hazard successful Kenora, Fort Frances, Dryden and Sioux Lookout sectors. Thunder Bay and Nipigon sectors scope from precocious to mean hazard conditions," Ontario's Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) said successful an update issued Thursday evening.

"These precocious to utmost hazard conditions travel arsenic a effect of this agelong of dry, lukewarm and windy upwind that we've experienced implicit the past fewer days," said Chris Marchand, occurrence accusation serviceman with AFFES successful Dryden, successful an interrogation with CBC News earlier this week.

"With the deficiency of meaningful rainfall successful the forecast, this could mean that these conditions could persist until immoderate moisture arrives."

Several municipalities successful the portion person declared full occurrence bans arsenic a effect of adust conditions, including Chapple, Emo and LaVallee successful the Fort Frances area, and Neebing further east.

Marchand said the wildfire play got disconnected to a slower commencement past twelvemonth owed to spaced out, meaningful rainfall.

"That's benignant of what we'd similar to spot close now," helium said. "We're successful a concern wherever we haven't seen immoderate rainfall successful respective days and [it] looks arsenic though we're not going to spot immoderate for respective days more."

Members of the nationalist are urged to beryllium highly cautious with immoderate outdoor burning activity, the AFFES said. People tin presumption the province's interactive representation for updates connected wildfires adjacent them.