ST. IGNACE  (Located in Nipigon Bay)
LAKE SUPERIOR, 1998
On May 20, 1998, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Geraldton Fire Centre received a call from Rosie Hotchkiss that she could see smoke on St. Ignace Island. An air surveillance reported the fire to be 1.5 hectares but north east winds and dry conditions created a rapid spread of flames. Two hours later the fire was 65 hectares.

Nirivian Island Expeditions had been out on St. Ignace since April 22, the earliest spring opening ever. The unusual warm winter and light snowfall and warm spring resulted in a very dry forest. The forest was so dry that fiddle heads (ferns) which grow in shady damp places were turning brown as they came through the forest floor.

Jim and Stanley Stevens were at Armour Harbour base camp eating lunch wondering why a Bell helicopter was hovering overhead on May 21^st. When we went back out on the lake we could see smoke floating over the cliffs at Armour Harbour . From this vantage point it was impossible to tell exactly where the fire was located on St. Ignace Island.

The fire started from a lightning strike on the north east section of the island and by 10pm on the 22 of May it had grown to 200 hectares.

By evening on May 23, the fire had grown to 1000 hectares and an acrid smell was heavy in the air on the south side of the island. In the afternoon of the 23^rd we took another cruise into St. Ignace Harbour to check out the progress of the fire.

By May 24^th the fire had expanded to 1900 hectares and the smoke was everywhere. Smoke floated into the city of Thunder Bay and created hazy conditions. On the Trans Canada Highway north of St. Ignace Island cars and vans lined the hills to see the awesome glow of the fire at night. One observer reported: "It looked like a scene out of the X-Files, like a space ship had crashed and was burning with an eerie glow."

By May 26^th the St. Ignace fire was over 2400 hectares in size and it looked very much like it might to consume the whole island. MNR had made the decision to let the fire burn. By this time the fire looked like a huge rubber tire dump had caught on fire, or a nuclear explosion had occurred. This horrific funnel of bluish smoke looked like it was a mile wide and rose into the sky, perhaps, 1500 feet then pancaked out into a monstrous cap of mostly gray smoke.

St. Ignace Fire, May 26^th, 1998

Views from Birch Island & Nest Island

On May the 27^th we finally got much needed heavy rain and this damped the fire to a smoulder. Unburned fuel in the fire centre resulted in later outbursts of fire and smoke until into September. In all, about fifteen percent of St. Ignace Island burnt in the summer of 1998

On June 2, Stan and I hiked up to Otter Lake to check out the fire damage. When we arrived, we saw a ‘hot spot’ burning on the east shore of Otter Lake. This we put out using our back packs and plastic shopping bags to carry water in.

SIMPSON ISLAND (Located in Nipigon Bay)
LAKE SUPERIOR, 1998

A second and more devastating forest fire broke out from a lightning strike on neighbouring Simpson Island on July 17^th, 1998. The fire was listed at 4 hectares on July 17^th, at 150 hectares on July19th, at 1953 hectares on July 22. By August 06th the fire on Simpson had consumed 3000 hectares and 60% of the island was burned.

The forest fires of 1998 burned 30% of St. Ignace Island and 60% of Simpson Island. This will result in new growth on both these islands. Visitors to Nirivia will have an opportunity to see the devastating effects of fire and to see how quickly nature regenerates after burning. We are fortunate that the forest around our base camp at Armour Harbour and most of St. Ignace Island was left untouched. Visitors can still enjoy the area and see the results of fire first hand.