Deer Lake evacuees to return home

Deer Lake evacuees are scheduled to begin returning home July 13 with all 548 expected to be home by July 15.
The Deer Lake residents most at risk were evacuated July 7 to Greenstone due to a forest fire located about three kilometres from the fly-in community.
Two fires in the Deer Lake area are not under control as of July 12, with Red Lake District Fire Number 26 at 121 hectares and Red Lake Fire 27 at 259 hectares. The fires were caused by lightning.
Hydro crews are expected to begin repairs July 13 to a power transmission line serving Cat Lake, Pickle Lake, Slate Falls, Mishkeegogamang and Musselwhite Mine. Power transmission was cut by a 5,300-hectare forest fire in the Margaret Lake area that burned the power line.
Located about 50 kilometres northeast of Ear Falls, Red Lake Fire 84 was not under control as of July 12.
The Ministry of Natural Resources Incident Management Team is working with Hydro One staff to assess safe access to the hydro corridor to repair damaged lines. This corridor is located in the centre of the fire and is surrounded by active burning.
Five heavy water bombers and three fire crews were brought in to combat the fire. Sprinkler protection was placed on tourist outpost camps in the area and tourists were evacuated from Margaret Lake. Suppression efforts also concentrated on preventing further damage to the power line.
Sioux Lookout District Fire 35 near Pickle Lake is not under control as of July 12 at 78,999 hectares. It is located about nine kilometres east of Mishkeegogamang, but community members recently returned home after being evacuated June 22.
An Emergency Area Order remains in effect over the fire and travel restrictions remain on a portion of the Albany River in the vicinity of the fire.
Sioux Lookout Fire 38, located about 16 kilometres north of Weagamow, is being observed as of July 12 at 8,674 hectares except for the southern portion which is receiving suppression action by heli-bucketing and working with hand tools to extinguish hot spots located by infrared scanning.
Two fires in the Cat Lake and Slate Falls area are not under control as of July 12, Sioux Lookout Fire 61 at 833 hectares and Sioux Lookout Fire 64 at 2,433 hectares. Both fires were caused by lightning.
Sprinklers and hoses have been set up at values located on Brownstone Lake, Graham Lake, Carrilon Lake, Shearstone Lake, and Birch Lake.
The First Nation communities of Sandy Lake, Cat Lake, North Spirit Lake, Kee-way-win and Koocheching remain on evacuation alert.
The Northwest Region has received fire suppression assistance from other provinces, including 100 initial attack firefighters from British Columbia and two tanker groups of two waterbombers and a Birddog aircraft from Quebec.
The Northwest Region has 83 active fires as of July 12, with 125,024 hectares of forest burned.
The MNR warned that clearing weather in the Northwest Region will make existing fires more active and holdover lightning fires will start to appear again. Hot, dry weather will challenge fire-fighting resources.