Fire rages in Kawartha Lakes as residents 'anxious' to see it end: mayor
About 27 hectares of forest are burning in the Haliburton 19 fire: Ministry of Natural Resources
Water bombers and firefighters "are making good progress" as they continue to battle a forest fire in the Burnt River area, said the mayor of Kawartha Lakes.
As of Monday morning, Mayor Doug Elmslie said the Haliburton 19 fire "is not under control, but is being well managed."
The last Elmslie said he heard was that fire crews were considering tackling the flames from the ground.
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"The last thing we needed was forest fires," he said. "We're anxious to have it ended as quickly as possible. So far, everyone is doing fine."
However, Elmslie did caution that weather and wind mean the situation could change at any moment.
As of Monday, about 27 hectares of forest are burning in the community northeast of Toronto, said Evan Lizotte, a fire information officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources.
"Seven crews will be dedicated to this wildland fire today," Lizotte said. "Air attack was conducted on the fire yesterday and is available today if required."
Officials say Kawartha Lakes Fire Rescue Service, the Trent Lakes Fire Service and multiple provincial crews from Haliburton have been battling the blaze since Friday, according to a news release posted to the city's website on Sunday.
The release said additional resources from North Bay crews were deployed to assist and aerial water bombers also targeted the most active fire zones on Sunday.
There have been three significant fires in the area in the past week and conditions are extremely dry, which is straining firefighting resources, the release said.
The city said the fire is burning in a heavily wooded area where ice storm damage left hazardous terrain, making hose deployment challenging.
It's suspected that an electrical storm on Friday afternoon started the fire, said Elmslie.
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Mother Nature has 'taken her toll': Kawartha Lakes mayor
No evacuations have been ordered but the city is urging residents and visitors to avoid the fire area and has closed off County Road 49 between County Road 121 and Bury's Green Road.
The Burnt River area, which is part of Kawartha Lakes, has a large wooded area, but is also is home to several farms and cottages, said Elmslie.
After a year of environmental challenges, from ice storms to a rough winter, Mayor Doug Elmslie of Kawartha Lakes says residents are 'anxious' to see the fires end. (Arrthy Thayaparan/CBC)
He requests that anyone with plans to visit a cottage in the area reconsider their trip for the time being.
If residents spot any smoke, they're asked to call 705-324-2191 instead of 911, said Elmslie.
"There have been no injuries to either residents or to the fire crews and we want to keep it that way," he said.
There is a city-wide total fire ban being enforced at this time. People are also requested to not fly their drones within nine kilometres of the fire for safety reasons.
He said that he can't recall the city ever experiencing a situation like this in the past 25 years.
"Mother Nature has certainly taken her toll on us this year with the ice storm and the winter we had," he said
"I know that [residents] will do everything they can to make sure people stay safe and that we get through this unscathed."
Hot, dry weather ahead with some showers: meteorologist
Elmslie said the city is hoping some cooler, moist weather will come to the aid of fire suppression efforts.
"What we really need is about three days of rain without electrical storms," he said.
While some showers and thunderstorms are expected to arrive in the afternoon on Tuesday, the weather dries up again until the weekend, said Crawford Luke, an Environment Canada meteorologist.
He said "steady" 20 kilometre winds are also expected in the area over the next few days.
"There will be rain with the thunderstorm, so I don't think it'll be a dry thunderstorm," Luke said. "It looks like our next chance would be this coming weekend to get any rain in this area."
This article was originally written by Arrthy Thayaparan and published for CBC News. It contains files from The Canadian Press.
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Thumbnail image courtesy: Colin Williamson via CBC