Local fire departments helping battle Centennial Lake wildfire as burns bans are issued

Jeff Green | Jun 07, 2023

The nationwide wildfire alert has come pretty close to Frontenac and L&A Counties.

The smell of smoke in the air, a blood red sun in the sky, and an eerie greyness that is more like the light during an eclipse, has enveloped the region this week, fallout from wildfires near and far.

A fire that has spread to about 50 hectares on Centennial Lake has triggered a mutual response from fire departments from all three land-based Frontenac townships as well as Addington Highlands and the City of Kingston.

Centennial Lake flows into Schooner Lake, which is part of the Frontenac Parklands network of campsites.

“There have been no evacuation orders in North Frontenac at this time,” said Cory Klatt, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the township, “We are monitoring the situation but hopefully the fire will not come this way.”

He added that there is currently only one family registered at a Frontenac Parklands site on Schooner Lake, and that township staff were headed there on Monday, to let them know what the situation is.

North Frontenac and Addington Highlands both put on total fire bans as of noon on Monday,

“I heard about the fire last night,” said North Frontenac Fire Chief Eric Korhonen on Monday, “and through our mutual aid agreement we have sent our marine unit, 200 feet of hose, 2 forestry hoses, and 4 firefighters who are already up there. The other fire services have sent what they have available as well.”

South Frontenac Interim Fire Chief Alex Bennett said that 6 firefighters from his department were deployed to the site on Monday, along with some equipment. They remained all day but were not needed on Tuesday.

Korhonen said that the Greater Matawatchan Township Fire Service is leading the fire response, with assistance from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Central Frontenac Township also put on a total fire ban on Monday, and at noon on Tuesday, South Frontenac Township upgraded the Level 1 Fire Ban that had been in place since Friday (June 2), to a total fire ban.

Crews from townships in Renfrew County are also responding.

“We are hoping the fire can be contained and will not head our way, but we are certainly keeping an eye on it,” said Cory Klatt, “there are a lot of trees down from last year’s Derecho that could get involved if a wildfire came our way. We urge people to follow the burn ban.”

According to a CBC report, the fire was reported shortly after 5:30 pm on Sunday and had spread to 50 hectares as of noon on Monday.

Fire Chief Korhonen said the fire was moving at a rate of about 3 metres per minute on Sunday Night but that rate had slowed by Monday morning.

An evacuation order affecting Black Mountain Estates, Little Bay Lane, Snider's Tent and Trailer Park and Aird’s Lake Road, in the Griffith area, went in place on Monday.

The hamlets of Denbigh/Vennachar in Addington Highlands, and Griffith in Greater Madawaska are about equidistant from the fire, and Plevna in North Frontenac is the closest population centre in North Frontenac.

On Tuesday morning, while the skies worsened over much of Frontenac County, the news from Centennial Lake had improved, with suggestions that the fire had been kept to a steady or shrinking radius.

The weather forecast remained grim, however, calling for sun and smoke for the next 48 hours. There was a chance of rain in the forecast, but only 30% into Tuesday evening, and the next forecasted rain does not come until Friday.

Environment Canada has also put out an air quality warning for Eastern Ontario.

“Smoke plumes from local forest fires as well as forest fires in Quebec have resulted in deteriorated air quality. Poor air quality may persist through most of this week. Air quality and visibility due to wildfire smoke can fluctuate over short distances and can vary considerably from hour to hour,” Environment Canada said.

An air quality advisory remained in place in the region into Wednesday.