The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is reporting a fewer number of forest fires this season.
Information Officer Chris Marchand says there have been 529 fires provincially, with about 300 of them in the northwest.
Marchand says “those numbers amount to less than about half of last years fire count. With that said it was still a fairly busy year in many respects. Here in the northwest we had a handful of very large, aggressive fires.”
Marchand points out those blazes put communities at risk in the Red Lake and Sioux Lookout districts, forcing some evacuations.
He adds wildland fires actually affected a little more of the land base than they did in the previous year.
Marchand notes the forest fire season ends at the end of October, so there’s still a chance of more sparking.
There are currently 10 active fires in the region.
All of them are being observed.
The hazard is low across the northwest region right now, with no new starts on the weekend.
