Several days of clear, warm weather that’s in the forecast will result in a rise in the forest fire hazard across the West Fire Region from the “moderate” to “high” range by Sunday.
As such, the public is encouraged to use caution with all outdoor fires.
There currently are three active fires in the region—Kenora Fire #22, Nipigon Fire #12, and Red Lake Fire #7.
Ontario continues to support other provinces and the Northwest Territories (NWT) with personnel and equipment.

While tick season seems to be dragging on a little longer than usual this summer, there’s been few signs of their Lyme disease-causing cousins, the deer tick (or black-legged tick), in the Kenora-Rainy River catchment area.
Al Mathers, environmental health officer with the Northwestern Health Unit, said they’ve been on the lookout for black-legged ticks, and occurrences of Lyme disease, again this summer.
“We are investigating a Lyme disease case already this year, which is a bit of a surprise. It popped up in June, which kind of caught us off guard,” he noted.

Natural beauty and recreational possibilities await you at Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota.
Join park naturalist Isaac Moll this Friday (Aug. 1) from 7-8 p.m. at the Woodenfrog State Forest Campground Refectory as he shares his own experiences of exploring all that Voyageurs National Park has to offer.
View pictures, hear stories, and experience the different educational and recreational opportunities available throughout Minnesota’s only national park.

The Borderland Racing Association is pleased to announce the WISSOTA Super Stocks are making a return to the Emo Speedway this Saturday (Aug. 2).
They will finish the feature event that was cancelled due to rain back on July 19.
Along with finishing their feature event, the WISSOTA Super Stocks will be racing another complete program with heats and feature. There also will be a bike giveaway.
Draw cut-off is at 6:45 p.m., with hot laps at 7 p.m. and racing at 7:30.
Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for students/seniors, and $4 for kids aged six-12 (those five and under are free).

Kim Jo Bliss and her helpers had the Emo Agricultural Research Station looking great as she welcomed the 100 or so farmers and other interested people to the annual open house there last Tuesday (July 22).
“If I could be at home haying tonight, I would be,” said Bliss, who, like all hay makers in Rainy River District, is finding that task challenging this year.
She explained although it seemed much wetter than normal this year, we are, in fact, very near or just slightly below normal.

One new fire was reported in the West Fire Region yesterday. Thunder Bay Fire #14 was reported late in the afternoon and FireRangers from the Thunder Bay fire management headquarters responded.
The blaze, located east of the city, grew to 0.1 hectares in size before being put “out.”
The fire hazard currently is “low” to “moderate” across the West Fire Region.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Natural Resources staff are busy completing training and preparedness exercises. An air operations exercise was conducted yesterday by air attack officers, waterbombers, and FireRanger crews.

On Thursday around 10 a.m., Fort Frances OPP officers were notified of a disabled vessel on Rainy Lake.
Two participants in the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship were operating the vessel and suspected to have broken down somewhere on Rainy Lake, but the exact location was unknown.
OPP marine officers already were out on the water, so they teamed up with FFCBC “spotters” and the medical boat to search for the vessel.
It was located in the north arm without incident.

While western provinces continue to report more forest fire activity, there were no new fires in the West Fire Region by the end of yesterday.
The region is holding at 99 fires since the official start of the fire season back on April 1.
Strong westerly winds over the weekend blew smoke into the region from fires as far away as northern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.

It was a quiet day in the West Fire Region yesterday despite rising fire hazards across the northern portions of the region.
No new fires were reported, but crews were busy across the region as they worked through values protection exercises, crew audits for safety and fire suppression techniques, and participation in crew training events and other work assignments.
There are five active fires in the region, located in the districts of Fort Frances, Kenora, Nipigon, Red Lake, and Sioux Lookout.

Being nominated by one’s peers, and receiving an award for one’s accomplishments in life, is a tremendous honour.
Such is the case for Robert Animikii Horton (Bebaamoyaash), a 26-year-old Sociology master’s student at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and member of Rainy River First Nations (Manitou Rapids).
Horton is one of 12 individuals from across Canada who has received the 2008 National Aboriginal Health Organization’s National Aboriginal Role Model Award.