MANITOULIN—With very little to no rain having fallen on the area this spring, now summer, almost all of Northern Ontario, including Manitoulin Island, is under a fire ban.
“It’s so dry, it’s very scary dry,” stated John Reid, fire chief for the municipality of Central Manitoulin, late last week. “We need at least two days of sustained rain.”
“If a fire breaks out, and it wouldn’t take much these days, and takes hold in the bush there is no way any of us would be able to stop it. It could end up being an Island-wide blaze,” said Mr. Reid. He said that it has gotten so bad, “that unless we get some real rainfall we won’t be able to allow the fireworks planned for Mindemoya and Providence Bay this Canada Day holiday and Lions Homecoming weekend.”
Mike Addison, Gore Bay fire chief, told the Recorder that under a fire ban, “there is no burning allowed, period.” He agrees with Mr. Reid that if a blaze ever takes hold anywhere on the Island, “it would be very serious. The weather forecasters are calling for rain on Friday. Hopefully this will take place.”
Isabel Chenard, fire information officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), said as of Monday the forest fire hazard on Manitoulin was listed as high.
“People have to realize and understand the situation we are currently in,” said Mr. Reid. “If a fire ever does break out that we can’t control I’m not sure what would happen; the MNRF bombers would be called in but they are very expensive to municipalities they are called in to. And we saw how difficult it was to get the Fort McMurray fire under control, even with water bombers and a lot of fire personnel on hand.”
