Local Fire Departments Helping Battle Centennial Lake Wildfire

Burn bans in place

By Jeff Green

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