ATIKOKAN — Ontario Provincial Police stopped traffic on a section of Highway 11 west of Atikokan on Monday night because of a wildfire.
The fire was reported around 7:30 pm.
Atikokan firefighters and Ministry of Natural Resources crews responded to the incident, and the highway was fully reopened by 9:00 pm.
On Tuesday afternoon, the MNR reported the fire was being held after burning an area of 1.5 hectares.
A handful of other active fires in the ministry's northwest region included a 1.7 hectare blaze north of Sandy Lake First Nation, which was also being held,
while a 1.4 hectare fire northeast of Pikangikum First Nation was declared out.
The forest fire hazard is currently high throughout most of the region, with areas of extreme hazard in the Red Lake sector and along the Manitoba border.
Chris Marchand, a fire information officer with the MNR at Dryden, said the ministry is concerned about the potential for fires in the western part of the region in particular.
He told Newswatch dry, warmer weather has left leaves and grass ideal fuel for forest fires, most of which tend to be human-caused at this time of year.
"So we're really urging members of the public to be extremely cautious with outdoor burning activities, or ideally avoid such activities at this time of elevated risk. Spring fires can move quite quickly in high winds through these dry fuels, before the forest 'greens up,. "
Marchand said the ministry is already seeing fires get into standing timber, adding that the extended weather forecast doesn't shows any meaningful rainfall in the coming days.
NOTE: This story was updated at 2:38 pm EDT Tuesday to include revised information and additional information provided by the MNR.
