Meet Edgar!

Edgar joined our family on Friday July 15th. We thought we would share a few pictures of him. Enjoy!

Fire in Deer Lake

As some of you might have seen already, one forest fire is approaching Deer Lake First Nation.

This is a little blurb from CTV's website:

The Canadian Press

GREENSTONE, Ont. — Hundreds of residents in the northwestern Ontario community of Deer Lake are being evacuated because of nearby forest fires.

Emergency Management Ontario says 203 residents were flown out of the community on Wednesday night to Greenstone while another 127 boarded a military plane this morning.

Officials are evacuating about 480 of the community's 1,100 residents -- mainly babies and the elderly and those with breathing problems or other health issues.

Emergency Management Ontario spokesman Brent Ross says another military plane is being brought in today from Winnipeg to help with the evacuations.

The blazes, which are burning about 3.5 kilometres away from the community, are sending thick smoke across the area.

Ministry of Natural Resources crews are fighting the fires with water bombers.

Other remote communities affected by the fires are Sandy Lake, Cat Lake and North Spirit Lake but no evacuations are currently planned for residents in those communities.

And from CBC's website:

A CL-415 helps fight wildfires near the Dear Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario (Mitch Miller/Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)

Hundreds of people have been moved out of the remote First Nations community of Deer Lake in northern Ontario because of nearby forest fires.

The Canadian military said Thursday that rescue crews helped move roughly 500 people to Greenstone, Ont., near Geraldton.

The community is home to roughly 1,000 people, Deer Lake First Nation Chief Roy Dale Meekis said.

The people being moved out of Deer Lake are mostly babies and the elderly and people with breathing problems or other health issues.

“Smoke is definitely a disruptive factor and we expect it to be an ongoing problem for a number of days because we have so many fires going in the far north,” said Deb MacLean, a spokeswoman for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources.

Fires were also affecting Sandy Lake, Cat Lake and North Spirit Lake, but no evacuations were planned in those communities.

Ottawa has sent two Canadian Forces CC-130 Hercules aircraft from 435 Squadron based at 17 Wing Winnipeg into the area to help with evacuation efforts.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources crews were also fighting the fires with water bombers."I'm proud that the people of Deer Lake were evacuated in a timely and safe manner thanks to the quick reaction of the Canadian Forces," Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement released Thursday.

"We're collaborating very closely with our First Nations and federal partners to ensure the safety of Deer Lake residents," Jim Bradley, minister of community safety, said in a release Thursday. "This evacuation will help take the most vulnerable members of the community out of harm's way."

There are 78 active fires burning in northwestern Ontario, with 46 in the Red Lake district, MacLean said Thursday.

With files from CBC's Jody Porter and The Canadian Press

Claire and I are thankful we are safe at home, but are worried for our Northern friends. They are evacuating people to Geraldton, a town a little west of Lake Nipigon and east of Longlac. We are not sure what they are being sent to, but in the past it has been an arena or community centre.

Here are some pictures of the fire and smoke, and one of the water bomber battling the flames.

This is a picture posted on Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Service's website. The red arrows are different forest fires. What is cause of concern is the concentration of fires in such a relative small area. Almost all of the fires are reported as caused by lightning and non-controlled. Deer Lake is situated a little to the West of the border where it juts to the Northeast. It is actually in the middle of the small cluster of 12 or so fires or red arrows.