A second fire in Kawartha Lakes that required the use of an aerial water bomber has noticeably jumped in size, but officials say there is some optimism as they’re reporting firefighters are making progress on the Haliburton 19 forest fire.
During a media briefing Tuesday morning, provincial and municipal officials said a grass fire dubbed OFR1 in Kirkfield (nearly 40 kilometres northwest of Lindsay) grew to 33.5 hectares from five hectares on Monday.
Kawartha Lakes Mayor Doug Elmslie said it’s believed to have spread through the grassroots and potentially wind, but it’s not clear what caused it.
An Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) aerial water bomber was brought in on Monday to try to assist ground crews in extinguishing it.
Police officers set up a roadblock on part of Prospect Road to allow for firefighters to truck water to the scene.
The development of the fire comes as crews are still working to extinguish Haliburton 19, a 27-hectare fire in a forested area east of Burnt River and north of Bobcaygeon.
A MNR spokesperson said firefighters have been able to hold the boundary of the fire and stop it from spreading further, but it is still classified as not under control.
Elmslie said leftover winter ice storm damage has complicated the response efforts.
“That forest is so thick and with the debris on the ground, they can’t actively access it. It is very difficult for them. They said they can’t go through,” he told reporters.
Despite the ongoing fire response efforts, Elmslie said there was no consideration of imposing any sort of evacuation order in response to either fire. However, he reiterated the fires are a good reminder for people to have a 72-hour emergency kit ready to go.
Meanwhile, there’s also good news about two other fires in the region. Haliburton 17 was put out and Haliburton 16 is under control at 4.5 hectares.
Total fire ban in place across Kawartha Lakes due to dry conditions
Elmslie used Tuesday’s media briefing to stress a total fire ban is in place across the municipality of Kawartha Lakes.
“It’s been very disappointing in some ways because our crews are working during the day and of course standing down at night and then they get a call for a fire because somebody has ignored the ban,” he said, adding he didn’t have a specific number of fines issued.
“I have been told by our fire service there will be zero tolerance.”
MNR officials said Kawartha Lakes has either a high or extreme forest fire danger rating due to the ability for flames to spread.
Many other local jurisdictions across Ontario have recently imposed similar bans, citing risks of similar fires breaking out. However, MNR officials ruled out a province-wide ban as they cited current firefighting capacity and the forecast for the coming weeks.
Crawford Luke, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the Kawartha Lakes region has been “hot and dry just like much of southern Ontario,” and because it is farther away from the Great Lakes that means less humidity adds to the problem.
“Haliburton, Peterborough, Hastings, a lot of these areas are basically running out like half the amount of rainfall they would typically see dating back to July, and so far this month it hasn’t really rained at all in many of these areas,” he told CityNews on Monday.
“Certainly this current stretch around where it’s two, three weeks without rain has just really exacerbated the situation.”
There was a glimmer of hope with the weather. Luke said an incoming cold front will lower the temperature a bit on Tuesday and potentially bring some precipitation. He added the next chance of rainfall will be on the weekend.
