Wednesday, August 25, 2010

One Large Fire Burning in Northwestern Ontario


A forest fire east of Pikangikum First Nation continues to burn out-of-control.


The fire has grown to 178-hectares in size but is burning in an isolated area.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has 48-firefighters battling the blaze.

Meantime, 64-personnel left the Dryden Airport yesterday to help in the fire fight in B.C.

21-firefighters returned home.

Drinkwalter Running Again for Council


There's almost sure to be a race for Kenora City Council this fall.


A seventh person has entered the race for one of six seats on council.

Charito Drinkwalter filed her nomination papers on Monday.

She is a rookie member of council, and joins Dave McCann, Jim Parsons,
Wendy Cuthbert and Rory McMillan as councillors seeking re-election.

The deadline to file nomination papers is September 10th.

Highway 17 West Open to One Lane

Still no indication when Highway 17 west of Kenora near the Manitoba Border will be
re-opened to two lanes of traffic.

The Trans-Canada was closed by an accident involving two tractor-trailor units
early this morning.

The OPP say a westbound rig with a lone male driver collided with an eastbound semi.

The westbound transport caught fire and was completely destroyed.

The there were two people in the eastbound truck, and they were rescued by fire crews that
were on the scene.

All three were taken to Lake of the Woods District Hospital for Treatment of injuries sustained
in the collision.

The OPP says Charges are still pending.

NOMA reflects on AMO conference


Members of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association are recapping their recent meetings with provincial ministers.


NOMA met with 8 ministers on a variety of topics.

President Anne Krassilowski says she spoke with the Minister of Natural Resources about the forest tenure process.

Meanwhile, Krassilowski was elected to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario board alongside Thunder Bay Mayor Lynn Peterson.

Another Blockade At Grassy Narrows

Yet another blockade has gone up on the Grassy Narrows First Nation north of Kenora.

This time the blockade is aimed at the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Roberta Keesick is one of the people at the blockade and says it was started up on Friday
after MNR officials tried to shut down repair work being done by community members on
the Slant Lake Road.

Keesick says the MNR wants the community to get proper permits before its begins any
roadwork in the community.

She says there are no plans to take down the blockade any time soon.

Highway 17 West of Kenora Closed


It could be a while before Highway 17 west of Kenora is open to two way traffic again.

Highway 17, just east of the Ontario/Manitoba border is still closed due to a motor vehicle accident.

The OPP says two tractor trailor units collide just after 5:00 this morning about three kilometers west of the Shoal Lake turn-off.

Three people were injured, but no other details about the accident have been released.

Police now says the highway could be closed until at least 10:00 this morning while the wreckage is cleared and officers complete their investigation.