the MNR
The forest fire hazard is expected to drop to “low” as storm systems continue to bring rain and cloud cover throughout the West Fire Region.
No new fires were reported by yesterday evening.
One fire of note, Red Lake Fire #32 burning northeast of Pikangikum, had sunny conditions and winds out of the southwest at 20 km/h yesterday.
An infrared scan on the east flank showed a number of large hotspots that were smoking.
FireRanger crews will be cutting helipads to improve access to the fire area and will be patrolling the flanks.
But no problems are expected and infrared scanning will continue.
Still, the fire is classed as “not under control” at 4,417 hectares in size, and an Incident Management Team is based at the Bak Lake forward attack base to manage it.
Meanwhile, Red Lake Fire #26, burning about 110 km east of Red Lake , is classed as “under control.”
The Incident Management Team on this fire has returned to home base, and the dismantling and removal of the base camp infrastructure was completed yesterday.
Eight fires currently are being monitored in the West Fire Region, including three in Quetico Provincial Park in Fort Frances District.
No problems are expected with these fires and as they burn, they will provide benefit to the ecosystems which contain many plants and trees that require forest fire for their renewal.
This brings the total number of active fires in the West Fire Region to 10, with a combined area of 7,428.3 ha burned over.
The 2010 total to date in the West Fire Region is 239 fires charring 8,123.0 ha.
