One new forest fire reported in the northeast

There was one new wildland fire confirmed by early evening on Wednesday, bringing the number of active wildland fires to five in the Northeast Fire Region.

North Bay 6 is a 0.6-hectare fire currently being held, according to Ontario Forest Fires’ latest report. It is located next to Boom Lake, to the east of Mattawa River Provincial Park.

The fire hazard varies from moderate to high across the Northeast Fire Region except for Timmins, Temiskaming Shores, and Cochrane which currently has an extreme fire hazard.

Alison Lake of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry told CTV News journalist Lydia Chubak that it’s hard to pin down the most active forest fire area because the region is so large.

“We have the primary focus will be the fires that are named Cochrane 8, 9 and 10,” Lake said.

“So out of five active … forest fires in Ontario, there's two that fall within that district, but the district is quite large.”

Lake also said to look at the forest fire hazard values. She said they are extremely high from south of Timmins, stretching to the James Bay coast area.

“If you're running an ATV in the bush or parts of the machinery can get quite hot if you happen to park it over,” she said.

“So say, dry grass or some material leaves that are dry. If they come in contact with hot parts of the machine, that can spark the fire. So it's something that surprises a lot of people and that that's a way, though, that can happen.”

Updates on other wildfires

Cochrane 10 is a 2.5-hectare fire located roughly 40 kilometres west of Attawapiskat. It is being held.

Cochrane 9 is a 2,572-hectare fire that is not yet under control. This fire is located about three kilometres east of Parson Lake and eight kilometres west of the Quebec border. Five crews are committed to this fire.

Cochrane 8 is a 35-hectare fire that is being observed. This fire is located about 57.5 kilometres northwest of Moosonee.

North Bay 5 is under control. This 106-hectare wildland fire is located about three kilometres southeast of Cobalt.

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