With no new growth in the large fires for several days, crews are making progress on their perimeters. Parry sound 33 and North Bay 72 are now considered “held”. Some residents are now returning to their homes in the areas, but a daytime ban between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. is still place for waterways in Pickerel river and Key River.
#ParrySound33 now being held. Travel restrictions updated. East of #Hwy69 on the French, Pickerel & Key rivers boat access is no longer restricted. Some restrictions on the west side of HWY 69 still apply. Read more at https://t.co/XPnoZFTS24 #Ontario #forestfires pic.twitter.com/yFSlPbnw7N
— ONForestFires (@ONforestfires) August 10, 2018
With residents now returning, Kell and Jan whose family home was under threat, say they are grateful to be returning home.
“Clearly Parry Sound 33 became a much higher priority in Ontario and resources were brought in to combat the blaze. I am not sure who is responsible for that, but Jan and I and all of our neighbours are and will be eternally grateful. We met some of the firefighters working on Parry Sound 33 doing the values protection work and would like to say thank you to Mike and his crew and all the firefighters for saving our home,” Kell Sandy says.
Many other residents and businesses are eager to get back to normal life.
With the perimeters of the fires being held, firefighters can now start working inside the fire perimeter. “There has been a lot of progress,” Shanye McCool, fire information officer for the MNRF, says
“We have been using infrared cameras to flag hotspots and use helicopter bucketing as required,”McCool says.
Sending out a big #ThankYou to the Incident Management Team from Alberta who were tasked with managing the #ParrySound33 fire! They helped bring the fire to a #BeingHeld status. #Ontario #Alberta pic.twitter.com/tVbGsY5EWA
— ONForestFires (@ONforestfires) August 12, 2018
Roadway access west of Highway 69 south of Pickerel River in Mowat Township and the unsurveyed lands to the southern border of Henvey Inlet 2 Indian Reserve is still prohibited.
Any and all access of the fire perimeter is also restricted. In the area, there are still 41 active fires with only six of them being out of control. So far this year Ontario has seen 1041 forest fires more than double the 503 seen last year.
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