THUNDER BAY — As out-of-control wildfires continue to burn near Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek, Chief Wilfred King says he’s worried about the area members returning home prematurely.
Also known as Gull Bay, the First Nation has been under a state of critical incident since mid-July. About 200 adults from the public remain displaced in Thunder Bay. The local residents is located off Highway 527, which has been closed between Thunder Bay and Armstrong for several weeks due to threats from nearby wildfires.
However, as temperatures have dropped and forest fire hazards have lowered across the region, King worries that Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) may ease restrictions put in place to protect communities. North of Gull Bay First Nation is Thunder Bay 36, the largest blaze in the province which remains not under control at more than 306,000 hectares. To the southwest are wildfires Dryden 34 (over 46,000 hectares), Dryden 35 (over 31,500 hectares), and the northwestern Ontario hub 56 (nearly 8,000 hectares). “There are 16 wildland firefighting crews from Ontario and Alberta, two 20-person crews of wildland firefighters from Mexico, heavy devices operators, pilots, overhead staff from Ontario and Québec, and an Incident Management Team assigned to the Rinker Lake Complex,” saysOntario Forest Wildfires’ website.
At the height of this summer’s forest fire activity last month, more than 2,800 people were under evacuation.
“Across these wildfires, firefighting crews are focused on establishing hoselines, patrolling for and extinguishing hot spots, and installing and maintaining values protection gear.” First Nations chiefs call for public inquiry as Ontario defends forest fire response As of Tuesday afternoon, forest fire hazards were low across most of the northwest, with areas of moderate to high hazard closer to the Ontario-Manitoba border. Still, “we're very concerned that we're surrounded by wildfires, and until these wildfires come under some form of control, that may alleviate some of our alarm,” King told CBC News on Tuesday. “Right now, we’re not happy with the process, the progress, the lack of willingness of the MNR to reach out to us and to talk about these situations.” CBC News reached out to the MNR for comment on Gull Bay’s misgivings and received an emailed statement on Tuesday evening. “The Ministry of Natural Resources continues to be in regular contract with First Nations communities to share information on fire activity and answer questions,” wrote spokesperson Mike Fenn. “Changes to evacuation orders released by the ministry will only be made when wildfires no longer pose a risk to the region, based on the best advice of fire behaviour experts.” Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Ontario’s minister of urgent response preparedness and response says that as of Tuesday, about 1,653 people remain displaced by wildfires across the region. At the height of this summer’s forest fire activity last month, more than 2,800 people were under evacuation. There are many factors at play when it comes to possibly lifting restrictions, King remarked, includingpublic safety considerations, fire behaviour, containment progress, operational requirements, and the ability for people to safely access and use affected areas. “What I've been told is that we need about three or four days of heavy rain in order to make an impact,” King remarked. While his the region members are anxious to return home, King confirmed they recognize the importance of patience as leadership assesses the situation. “We're holding our own and we want to make sure that if [evacuees] do go back, we don't want to be in a situation where we're evacuating again,” he explained. “That's going to cause a lot of grief for the members and also for the administration — and again, it would be hard to re-establish lodging for them in Thunder Bay if they do that.” Last month,King led calls for a public inquiry to be conductedinto the Ontario government’s blaze response, following the total loss ofNamaygoosisagagun First Nation(also known as Collins First Nation) andWhitewater Lake First Nation. First Nation chiefs reiterated their desires for accountabilityduring a press conference at Queen’s Park last week. “I feel a public inquiry is necessary in order to prevent this type of thing [from] happening in the future,” King shared. 'A big difference': Small fire departments in area of northwestern Ontario wildfires get new devices Neskantaga First Nation calls on province to communicate better amid forest fire urgent response Meanwhile, the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario has confirmed aWildland Fire Management performance auditis underway, “which plans to assess the Ministry of Natural Resources’ processes and procedures used for blaze management in accordance with the Wildland Fire Management Act.” King confirmed he hopes that report validates the alarm expressed by First Nation chiefs. As well, though forest fire danger ratings are less serious so far this month than last, he wants people to remember that “we're only halfway through the fire season.” Sarah Law is a CBC News reporter based in Thunder Bay, Ont., and has also worked for newspapers and online publications elsewhere in the province. Have a story tip? You can reach her at sarah.law@cbc.ca. It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered onCBC Gem..
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📍 Source: CBC News Thunder Bay · By: CBC News Staff · 🗓️ August 05, 2026 · 🏠 ThunderBay.Online
