Deer Lake prepares to declare state of emergency over nearby wildfire

CBC

30-05-2025

Deer Lake First Nation is preparing to declare a state of emergency and evacuate all remaining members due to a fire burning in and around the community.
As of Friday morning, the fire, known as Red Lake 12, was just over 7,100 hectares in size and not under control.
"It was about 200 feet from our local band office," Deer Lake Chief Leonard Mamakeesick told CBC News on Friday. "It's surrounded the airport already."
Mamakeesick said the fire worsened overnight due to shifting winds. He said he was working on getting a state of emergency declared.
While Deer Lake was already in the process of evacuating vulnerable community members, Mamakeesick said there are still more than 1,000 people in the community. They'll be taken to Toronto as part of the overall evacuation of the community.
Ontario FireRangers, meanwhile, are working on protecting the community, he said, and have set up sprinklers to protect structures there.
Red Lake 12 is one of a few fires of note burning in the region this week, the provincial Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) said.
Nipigon 5 has grown to about 2,000 hectares, and is not under control. The fire is burning just south of Webequie First Nation, which has issued a pre-evacuation alert.
Kenora 20 is about 34,000 hecatres and not under control. AFFES said crews are making "steady progress" on the fire, which has spread into Manitoba. The fire is burning northwest of Kenora.
Kenora 14, meanwhile, is being held at about 1,600 hectares. That fire is located south of Kenora.
Much of the northwest remains under a restricted fire zone due to the forest fire hazard. No open burning is permitted.
'The smoke is really bad': Deer Lake resident
Deer Lake resident David Meekis spoke with CBC News on Thursday about the environmental conditions resulting from the fire.
"The smoke is really bad … you can't even, like, stand around outside that long due to the smoke, you inhale it and it hurts your lungs really bad," Meekis said. "It's pretty hectic here right now."
Meekis said he's standing by to get on a list as the authorities carry out an evacuation of the community.
" They're evacuating people to Toronto … they got together and started the evacuation list for people, like, kids first and elders first," he said.
"They're just going by the ages and people that can't really do much, like people that are on dialysis, people that are on medical — they're the ones that are getting picked first. Healthy people like me, they're waiting out, waiting for the other ones to go first."
Right now it's scary. - David Meekis, Deer Lake resident
According to Meekis, people have been advised that they could be away from the community "three to four weeks," adding that he has mixed feelings about leaving.
"I don't feel like leaving my dogs. I got two Huskies," he said.
Meekis said the authorities are "going to figure something out how to feed them and look after the animals when you leave. People [have] dogs and cats they have in their yard. So they're planning something."
"Right now it's scary. We're kind of scared because the fire is on both sides of us and it's spreading fast and the winds picking up too," Meekis said on Thursday.
Special air quality statements in effect
Environment Canada has also issued special air quality statements due to wildfire smoke for parts of the northwest, including:
Thunder Bay.
Atikokan.
Ear Falls.
Dryden.
Kenora.
Ighace.
Fort Frances.
Red Lake.
Sioux Lookout.
Wildfire smoke, the statements reads, is expected to affect the region throughout the day Friday, and possibly in to Saturday for some areas.
Red Lake Mayor Fred Mota said the municipality is monitoring fire activity in the region, and remains in constant contact with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).
"We're still remaining under a restricted fire zone in our area, obviously for good reason due to the dry forest conditions," Mota said. "Lots of smoke in the area. We're fortunate in our radius that there's no close fires at this time."
Forest fires caused the evacuation of Red Lake in 2020, and the municipality was also nearly evacuated due to fire activity in 2021.
"We want to take all the precautions necessary," Mota said. "When I met with the MNR earlier in the fire season, some of the concern was the dryness."
"We had quite a bit of snow, but due to all of the warm weather that we received, that snow melted off very quickly and didn't saturate into the ground. And of course, we haven't had a lot of precipitation."