Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry officials say they are cautiously optimistic about the forest fire situation in the northeastern part of the province.
The MNRF has crews fighting what are termed “priority fires” in three areas of the north-east: River Valley, Lake Temagami and Lady Evelyn clusters.
River Valley
The ministry is using five helicopters to assist 13 - three or four person fire crews, as well as a 19-person “sustained attack” crew from British Columbia. They are fighting three fires in the River Valley fire cluster.
Lake Temagami
The steep, rocky terrain in the Lake Temagami cluster is challenging firefighters, but they say they continue to make progress. The ministry says another blaze's status is now updated to “being held.”
Lady Evelyn
A little rain fell in the Lady Evelyn area Monday, but not enough to really help, so helicopters continue to bucket water to the site. There are 16 crews from across the country working the fires in this cluster.
At last check, there are 55 fires burning in our region, and 24 are not under control. In a situation like this, local fire crews require help from outside the province and more than 100 people have flown in from various places to pitch in.
