Forest Fire Activity Fairly Quiet

Forest fire activity was fairly quiet across Northern Ontario Wednesday.

Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry's showing no new fires in the Northeast, though there were 24 still "active", including the "Wawa 3" or "Depew Fire" east of White River being held at 6678.1 hectares in size - south of Trent Lake and Round Lake, and five kilometres northwest of Duffy Lake - while the "Chapleau 3" fire east of Chapleau remains 3916 hectares in size, located two kilometres south of October Lake and 2.5 kilometres west of Vichaw Lake - though it's still listed as "not under control", the Ministry notes minimal fire activity over the past couple days, and the blaze has not grown in size for a few days.

Implementation orders restricting travel near those fires still remain in place.

The Northwest saw three fires over the last day, leaving it with 39 "active", eleven "not under control".

The fire hazard is low for most of the Northeast, rising to moderate or even high for some areas between Marathon, Hearst, and Smooth Rock Falls, going north, while the Northwest is predominantly high with some areas of moderate hazard.

Despite the improved weather and progress on some fires, the Restricted Fire Zone implemented by the province remains in force for the entire fire region of Ontario, suspending burning permits and banning all open air burning.