Northwestern Ontario - and a small bit of the northeast - is under a fire ban, amid numerous wildfires and poor conditions.
As the province has about 200 forest fires burning - mainly in the Northwest - Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources says a Restricted Fire Zone has been implemented, starting just east of Marathon and spreading north and west to the borders with Manitoba and the US, plus a little east along Highway 11.
Though it doesn't extend into the Algoma District, White River and Dubreuilville have both declared their own fire bans, citing the high wildfire risk and community safety - at this time, neither Wawa nor Chapleau have taken that measure.
The MNR reports 8 new wildland fires were confirmed in the Northeast on Wednesday, half in the Wawa District: "Wawa 17", a 12-hectare blaze about 4 kilometers east of White Lake; "Wawa 18", a 0.1 hectare fire about 500 meters west of White Lake; "Wawa 19", a 0.1 hectare fire on the western shore of Loonskin Lake, about 7 kilometers west of Hawk Junction; and "Wawa 20", a 0.8 hectare blaze about 6 kilometers southwest of Bishop Lake - all of them are not yet under control.
Three others are still burning in the district: "Wawa 14", which is under control at 12.5 hectares in size, just east of Highway 17 and less than a kilometre southwest of O'Brien Lakes; "Wawa 15", which is not yet under control at 0.7 hectares in size, on the eastern shore of Lake Superior in Lake Superior Provincial Park, about a kilometre south of Laughing Brook Creek; and "Wawa 16", which is being held at 1 hectare in size near Tripoli Creek, west of Esnagi Lake.
Fires were also reported in the Timmins District - 4 kilometres southwest of Ant Island Lake - and the Cochrane District, south of Highway 11, about 21 kilometres west of Smooth Rock Falls.
The fire hazard is mostly high or extreme across the North, with more moderate and low hazard along Lake Huron and Georgian Bay into Central Ontario.