The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry updated the forest fire situation late last night (Friday):

By the evening of July 27 there were 43 active forest fires across the northeast.

Of these, 13 are not yet under control, 30 are either being held, under control or being observed.

There was one new fire confirmed in the region today. North Bay 119, located 8km southwest of Latchford, was 0.1 hectares and is already out.

A total of 3 fires were extinguished today.

Lady Evelyn Fire Cluster

The North Bay 72 fire, which broke out in Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater park July 8, remains at 27,579 hectares and is not yet under control.

The fire was scanned from the air early in the morning. Infrared scanning identifies areas that are holding heat so fire rangers can walk the fire and extinguish the hot spots.

The Incident Management Team assigned to this cluster continues to observe North Bay fires 18, 19, 46, 59 and 61. These fires will also be scanned using infrared technology in the coming days.

River Valley Fire Cluster

This cluster includes two fires; North Bay 62 and North Bay 42.  Both fires are being held.  North Bay 25 is being monitored to the west of the cluster, which is now under control at 200 hectares.

There are 135 people working on these fires including firefighters from Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Mexico.

Crews made solid progress on all fires in the cluster today. Crews worked on the south side of North Bay 42, and continued to work the perimeter on North Bay 62 while other crews continued to recover equipment from the fire.

Some smoke was visible on North Bay 25 and crews worked to extinguish hot spots.