Rain in Kawartha Lakes Wednesday morning fell “in the wrong places,” officials fighting two active wildfires say.
Evan Lizotte, fire information officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Aviation Forest Fire Management Service said the precipitation only helped reduce the overall hazard level in the region.
“That being said, it is important to know that with the upcoming hot weather and the forecast, it may not take long for the hazard to build again to high to extreme,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Environment Canada forecasted mainly cloudy skies with a 40 per cent chance of showers and risk of a thunderstorm for Kawartha Lakes.
With skies already clear, and temperatures reaching high of 28 degrees, the blaze is expected to remain a serious concern for officials.
“This proving to be a difficult fire … they didn’t have an appreciable amount of rain, so it didn’t do a whole lot to quell the situation,” Kawartha Lakes Mayor Doug Elmslie told reporters Wednesday.
Ontario’s forest fire info map currently shows three active wildfires blazing in the region, with the forest fire danger ratings listed as low.
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Of the two fires, officials said the fires remain the same in size; the largest fire, OFR 1, had consumed approximately 33.5 hectares. Meanwhile, the Haliburton 18 fire burned through 27 hectares of forest, it added.
Those fires are “not under control,” officials added.
Environment Canada’s forecast shows Kawartha Lake’s is in for another sunny stretch, but currently a 40 per cent chance of rain is forecast for Sunday.
There were no evacuation orders in place, but residents were being asked to remain alert.
“There is a total fire ban in effect across the city of Kawartha Lakes and we will be policing that,” Elmslie said Tuesday.
“If you see smoke, report it immediately to Kawartha Lake’s fire rescue.”
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