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Forest fires moving to within 10km of Deer Lake are forcing the evacuation of more residents. There are now only 100 to 150 people left in Deer Lake, a community of one thousand, reports Jeremy Sawanas.

People with breathing problems are also being evacuated from Sandy Lake and Keewaywin.

The two stories below describe the challenges for everyone.

From http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/13/ontario-fires.html

700 leave homes as Ontario forest fires burn
Sept 13 2006

Hundreds of people have left their homes in "bone-dry" northwestern Ontario, where fire crews are struggling to control more than 300 fires burning in the region.

 Ontario Thunder Bay Deer Lake Sandy Lake Lightning strikes have caused most of the fires burning in the area northwest of Thunder Bay, including the 60 new fires that started on Tuesday, said Debbie MacLean, with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

"Currently, there are about 300 fires burning," she said of the region north of Lake Superior, stretching from Thunder Bay to Rainy River. "It's bone-dry in Central Canada."

About 700 people have left their homes in the northern communities of Deer Lake, Sandy Lake and Keewaywin because of heavy smoke from the fires.

The evacuees, who include children, seniors and people with respiratory problems, are being housed in various communities in the municipality of Greenstone, said its mayor, Michael Power.

"It's a terrible thing to say but we're old hands at this," said Power. "For many years the community of Geraldton in Greenstone has been doing this, acting as a host to people who flee their homes from fires."

Power said nurses from the various communities travelled to Greenstone with the evacuees to look after their daily needs.

Dozens of new fires daily

The influx is a challenge for Greenstone's resources and public employees, he said, but it's something they feel they have to do.

"You can't stand by and see your fellow human being in a time of need not being welcomed and not do everything you possibly can to ease the stress they face when they flee their home and they don’t know what they're going back to," Power said.

He said the municipality is expecting additional evacuees as emergencies are called in other communities.

MacLean said local fire crews are working long hours to battle the dozens of small blazes popping up daily. Firefighters are managing to contain about 40 fires per day, but anywhere from 60 to 100 new fires start daily, she said.

"The sheer number of fires is outpacing the resources we have," said MacLean.

Heavy smoke a problem

David Cleaveley, a fire officer with the Natural Resources Department, said the situation is one of the worst department staff can remember this late in the year.

Many of the problems in the northern communities are caused by heavy smoke from the fires.

"The smoke is so thick we can't even land planes there to talk to the people," Cleaveley said.

He said 21 heavy water bombers are being used to fight the fires.

Local crews were cut in half after student firefighters returned to school, Cleaveley said, but crews are starting to trickle in from other provinces, including Saskatchewan and Quebec.

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From http://www.tbsource.com/localnews/index.asp?cid=86672

Wildfires are straining resources
Tb News Source - 9/12/2006

Fire concerns continue to grow across the northwest and have now led to more evacuations.

Almost 300 residents of the remote community of Deer Lake were flown to Geraldton Monday and more are on the way.

Smoke from nearby fires has been drifting into the community, located about 600 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, for over a week but the fires have moved to within ten kilometres of the town, forcing even more residents out.

Plans call for about 260 more residents to be flown out Tuesday and Wednesday.

About 70 residents of Sandy Lake and 120 from Keewaywin are also being flown to Geraldton because of smoke concerns. All this comes as fire crews continue to battle the large numbers of new fire outbreaks. There were 54 new starts recorded Monday and are now over 250 active fires across the region, burning over 30,000 hectares.

Fire information officer Deb MacLean says bone-dry conditions have created a critical situation and warns that any one fire could become a ``big problem.''

MacLean says the fires are straining firefighting resources to the limit and a depleted staff is unable to keep up with the workload. Quebec has sent in crews to help out, but she says most other provinces face similar challenges and don't have anyone to spare.