2 large fires near Manitoba border among 7 new forest fires in northwestern Ontario

Seven new forest fires popped up across the northwest region in the last 24 hours, according to an update issued by Ontario's Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) on Monday night.

They include a 530-hectare fire just over 16 kilometres from the Manitoba border. The agency, a branch of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, said the fire is not under control.

There's another large fire in the Red Lake, Ont., sector that's covering 100 hectares of land. The fire, about 20 kilometres from the Manitoba border, is being observed by crews.

For reference, Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park itself is 500 hectares in size. 

In total, 16 forest fires are burning in northwestern Ontario.

In the update issued Tuesday, two small fires burning near Pikangikum First Nation were also reported.

All but two of the new fires are in the ministry's Red Lake sector. One remote fire, in the Sioux Lookout sector, covers 600 hectares and is being observed by crews.

A small fire also burns in the Thunder Bay sector. It's located about two kilometres outside the boundary of Fort William First Nation and is not under control.

"The wildland fire hazard ranges from low to high across the Northwest Region as of Tuesday evening. The hazard is primarily low and moderate across the southern half of the region with isolated pockets of high hazard values," reads the update from AFFES.

"The northern half of the region is seeing a mostly moderate to high hazard."

The forest fire season officially started April 1 in Ontario, and since then, the landscape has remained relatively stable in the northwest.

Neighbouring provinces have had it much worse.

In Manitoba, wildfires in the northeast of the province have forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 vulnerable residents from five First Nations. The majority of the evacuees in the province are being relocated to Winnipeg.

While the forest situation has remained stable in northwestern Ontario through most of the summer, crews have stayed busy.

Last week, 100 fire rangers and a 21-person incident management team from Ontario were all sent to Alberta to help with the forest fires efforts.

The crews went west, after a fire tore through Jasper National Park, destroying an estimated 358 out of 1,113 buildings in Jasper.