THUNDER BAY – The City of Thunder Bay will welcome 101 evacuees from Deer Lake First Nation as a growing forest fire threatens the community.
In a release, the city said the 36,235-hectare Red Lake 51 fire was burning 15 kilometres away from the community of about 1,100, situated around 650 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.
The 101 vulnerable members of the community are expected to arrive in Thunder Bay Monday afternoon. Another roughly 350 vulnerable members will be evacuated to other Ontario communities.
The city is also hosting around 300 residents of Poplar Hill First Nation also evacuating due to forest fires in the region north of Red Lake, who arrived on Sunday.
No further evacuees were expected as of Monday, the city said.
The city addressed COVID-19 concerns, saying medical officer of health Dr. Janet DeMille confirmed vaccines had been rolled out within Deer Lake First Nation and there were no cases of COVID-19 in the community.
Note: An earlier version of this story misstated the size of Red Lake 51. The fire was estimated at 36,235 hectares by Ontairo's Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services as of Monday afternoon. TBNewswatch apologizes for the error.
