RED LAKE — Seventeen new forest fires were confirmed in the region as of Wednesday afternoon.
Most of the new fires, 12 of the 17, are in the Red Lake zone, according to a Ministry of Natural Resources forest fire update.
The 10-hectare Red Lake 62 fire forced the closure of Nungessor Road roughly 50 to 70 kilometres north of Red Lake.
The road runs from the municipality north towards Pikangikum First Nation.
As of Wednesday night the MNR was reporting 46 active fires in the Northwest region, 20 of which are not under control.
The fire hazard is high to extreme in the Kenora fire management area, according to the MNR. High hazard conditions extend to Fort Frances, Dryden and the southern portions of the Red Lake and Sioux Lookout areas. Far north hazard conditions range from moderate to low.
More details on fire hazard conditions and the sizes and locations of forest fires can be found at Ontario.ca/ForestFires.
