Just saw this in the news.

A forest fire has caused the evacuation of Red Lake Ontario.

Forest Fire Causes the Evacuation of Red Lake Ontario

Yikes. That grew awefully fast. It looks like it’s just south west of town and had already burned the road to Johnson and Leano if I’m reading the map correctly.

Jaywalker: "Yikes. That grew awefully fast. It looks like it’s just south west of town and had already burned the road to Johnson and Leano if I’m reading the map correctly. "

I see the map the same way. Let's hope this one get put out fast. It's too close to town and structures to let go...

While it looks like the winds will be moderate tomorrow, the wind will shift to come from the SE which could help it grow given the long narrow SW to NW line so far.

And if anyone is wondering, 420 hectares is a bit over 1,000 acres.

Jaywalker: "And if anyone is wondering, 420 hectares is a bit over 1,000 acres. "

Or said another way, 1.6 square miles.

However, the last report I saw said the fire had expanded to 550 hectares.

dd

it's currently at 750ha as of yesterday at 3:44PM.

Link to Ontario Interactive Map.

HighnDry: "it's currently at 750ha as of yesterday at 3:44PM.

Link to Ontario Interactive Map. "

Apparently, they now have a better "visual" of the fire's perimeter because the current estimate of the fire's size is 552ha.

dd

Makes sense. I'm happy to be wrong about that! :)

Happy to see this report as of 15 hrs ago on Ontario's fires page:

"Forest fire updates
Forest Fire Emergency Restrictions No Longer in Effect - Red Lake District

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is advising the public that the forest fire Implementation Order that was put in place due to extreme fire activity in the Red Lake area from RED049, is no longer in effect as of August 16, 2020 @ 0700 hrs Central Standard Time. All restrictions related to the evacuation, travel, use and access of the previously identified areas within the Municipality of Red Lake have been lifted.

We would like to stress to the public that Red Lake 49 is an active fire with ongoing fire suppression. Please be mindful of crews working on the fire and near roadways. If you are traveling down the Madsen Highway, please go slow and proceed with caution.

Please stay out of the fire area. The interior of a forest fire is dangerous, and the public should not enter this area. Trees with weakened roots systems could fall over and cause injury. There will be visible smoke in the interior of this fire for some time. This is the normal process for extinguishing a forest fire

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry would like to thank the public for their cooperation during this time. "