Deer Lake, Webequie First Nations declare state of emergency over nearby wildfires

Deer Lake First Nation and Webequie First Nation each declared a state of emergency on Friday, as forest fires continue to pose a danger to communities.

Deer Lake Band Council said it's dealing with and responding to "a massive, raging forest fire " that has quickly grown to 9,600 hectares.

The state of emergency declaration noted that the forest fire near Deer Lake "has created a clear and present danger, with seriously poor air quality and provides a real risk to life and property and a true threat of burning community homes and buildings."

Meanwhile, another fire roughly 450 kilometres east has forced the Webequie First Nation to start evacuation vulnerable people. Chief Cornelius Wabasse said the decision to declare a state of emergency "has been made in the interest of protecting public health and safety."

A Friday news release from the Band Council said "400 individuals are expected to be transported to Barrie, Ont., within the next day or so."

"We will continue to monitor the fire to determine if further evacuation is needed and will continue ongoing communications with residents," Wabasse said.

Wabasse noted that the wildfire — NIP005 — "continues to burn near the community," adding that "with unpredictable weather and wind patterns, there is an increasing risk of dangerous smoke exposure and possible encroachment of the fire zone."

Key actions under the state of emergency declaration include:

All community members are urged to remain indoors as much as possible, limit outdoor activities, and monitor for further instructions through official Webquie communication channels, the declaration reads.

Deer Lake, which began an evacuation this week, said it's now "planning a complete community evacuation" due to a fire burning in and around the community.

As of Friday morning, the fire, known as Red Lake 12, was just over 7,100 hectares in size and not under control.

"It was about 200 feet from our local band office," Deer Lake Chief Leonard Mamakeesick told CBC News on Friday. "It's surrounded the airport already."

Mamakeesick said the fire worsened overnight due to shifting winds. He said he was working on getting a state of emergency declared.

While Deer Lake was already in the process of evacuating vulnerable community members, Mamakeesick said there are still more than 1,000 people in the community. They'll be taken to Toronto as part of the overall evacuation of the community.