| Comments | Northern Ontario, July 6-25, 2011. A lighting storm on July 6 sparked a series of wildfires that spread throughout northern Ontario. Fire personnel were unable to gain control of the fires, which burned roughly 300,000 hectares of land. As of July 20, there were 112 wildfires burning in the region. Evacuation orders were put in place for communities in direct threat from the fires as well as those communities suffering from the impacts of smoke, power outages, food shortages and a lack of food storage capacity, since many communities are only accessible by air. The following evacuations occurred: 535 people from Deer Lake First Nations (FN), 260 people from Cat Lake FN, 50 people from Mishkeegogamang FN, 280 people from Eabametoong FN (Fort Hope), 197 people from Keewaywin FN, approximately 1000 people from Kingfisher Lake FN, approximately 770 people from Sandy Lake FN and approximately 200 people from North Spirit Lake. In addition, the entire communities of Keewaywin FN and Koocheching FN had been completely evacuated. In total, approximately over 3,300 people were evacuated. Wildfires severely damaged more than 86 hydro poles and over 13 kilometres of hydro lines, resulting in power outages across the northern region. |