For nearly 50 years, Susie and I have been traveling to northwestern Ontario on hunting and fishing trips.

We have visited many remote camps and come to know many folks in the area.

My brother actually owned and operated two separate resorts in this beautiful area.

One camp visitors could drive to; the other was boat-in or fly-in. This was the first one Susie and I went to after we were married.

In the early 1970s, we crossed the border at International Falls, Minnesota, and drove north on Highway 71 for about 100 miles.

Calling this a highway was generous. It was under construction (actually just being built), and often vehicles were stopped while blasting of rocks was going on. Then the bulldozers smoothed the rocks, and that was what we were driving on.

Then, we arrived at Highway 17 near Kenora. This was actually a paved two-lane road, which sometimes widened to three lanes for short distances to allow passing.

After a decade or so, another road north was built from the border to Dryden. This was 96 miles of nothing but trees, rocks and water. Signs in Fort Frances at the border notified there were no services for 100 miles. Dryden is also on Highway 17. Vermillion Bay is about halfway between Dryden and Kenora, again around 100 miles.

Seeing a pattern here? Road 105 goes north from Vermillion Bay, through Perrault Falls, then on north to the town of Red Lake. (Something just over 100 miles.)

Except for a few small dots in the road, in any direction, trees, rocks and water were the only sights to see. While this makes for pretty scenery, it is not a nice place when it catches fire.

Anytime you turn on the TV during fire season, there are news segments about the fires in California and our western states. While Red Lake is only about 200 miles north of Minnesota, I saw nothing about a recent fire there.

My niece, Jessica, and her family (and my brother and his family) live in Kenora. She often posts on Facebook, and my wife can keep track of what is going on with them.

Recently, Jessica had a post telling all of her friends (and anyone else) who lived in Red Lake and needed to head south they were welcome to stay with them. Red Lake was about to be wiped out by a forest fire.

The entire town of around 5,000 people was under mandatory evacuation.

The fire was up to 550 hectares (a hectare is about 2.5 acres) — not a big fire, but only two kilometers, just over a mile, from town.

Red Lake is the end of the road going north. It is a float plane base, and anyone going north from there has to go by boat or plane. Evacuation of the town was going south down 105.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, all of the hunting and fishing camps were nearly empty. About 95% of their business comes from somewhere other than Canada.

With the Canadian border closed because of the outbreak, most camps were deserted. The owners of most opened their cabins to the evacuees. Many fled Red Lake to Dryden, Vermillion Bay, Kenora, Thunder Bay and even as far west as Winnipeg.

Firefighting crews were brought in to fight the fire. Helicopters and planes equipped for dropping water bombs on the fire filled the air. The smell of smoke reached towns hundreds of miles away.

For five days, they fought the fire.

On the fourth day, as the fire was approaching the town, some rain began to fall — not a lot, but it helped a little. Unfortunately, lightning accompanied the rain and started other small fires. One more day, and the fire would engulf the town.

On the fourth night of fighting the blaze, the rain came down. Three and a half inches dropped and slowed the fire enough that the firefighters brought it under control. It would be several more days before it was contained enough to allow some residents to return home.

Red Lake was saved.

While Canada is another country, it is close enough to the United States that news such as this should have been covered. Maybe it was just too small of a fire to be important.

But at the same time, another fire just 100 miles or so east of Red Lake in Fort Hope, Ontario, was being fought. This fire was more than 6,000 hectares, more than ten times the size of the Red Lake fire. I didn’t see anything about this on the news, either.

Right now, there are more than 40 forest fires burning in Ontario, already more than all of 2019.

I still have friends in Ontario. We have stayed at resorts in Vermillion Bay, Nestor Falls, Sioux Narrows, Perrault Falls and other camps, which aren’t close enough to any town to have a name.

It really upsets me when I hear of disasters that could wipe out a business (or town) of people I know. I try to visit my older brother and his family at least every year or two. At our age, I don’t know how many more chances we will be able to visit.

This year, we were scheduled to fish Lake of the Woods in Ontario and see my brother in August. The border closing canceled that.

Hopefully, next summer will see a return to normal: Fishing for Canada walleye, northerns and muskies. Enough rain so fire danger is minimal. Visiting with family and friends in the far north.

The author may be reached at [email protected].