Some progress on a White Lake area wildfire, as fire activity calmed over the weekend.
Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources is reporting that 4 FireRanger crews are making "good progress" on "Wawa 17", which was reported last Wednesday east of White Lake - it is not yet under control at 37.2 hectares in size, about 15 kilometres northeast of Pic Mobert, though the Ministry says it is primarily characterized as smoldering ground fire and "helipads have been established to facilitate access and crews are continuing to work to establish hoselines", with recent precipitation helping.
There are six other fires burning in the Wawa District: "Wawa 14", 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", not yet under control at 1 hectare in size, on the eastern shore of Lake Superior in Lake Superior Provincial Park, about a kilometre south of Laughing Brook Creek; "Wawa 21", under control at 2.3 hectares in size, about 13 kilometres south of Highway 11 on Mistake River; "Wawa 23", under control at 1.5 hectares in size, about 2 kilometres southeast of Vein Lake; "Wawa 25", not yet under control at 0.2 hectares in Slim Jim Lake Conservation Reserve; and "Wawa 28", not yet under control at 0.1 hectares, about 17 kilometres northeast of Missanabie, west of Missinaibi Provincial Park.
Restricted Fire Zones remain in place for most of the Northwest and a large swath of the Northeast, including from Marathon through White River, Dubreuilville, and Wawa, up to the border of the Sudbury District, but also including Timmins and points north - the RFZ automatically imposed a fire ban, though multiple municipalities in the area have also put their own in place.
Chapleau is not included in the RFZs nor has it imposed a fire ban at this time.