Firefighters are making progress with Parry Sound 33, the forest fire that threatens to shut down Highway 69.
The massive fire grew very little on Thursday and is now just under 11,200 hectares large.
For the last three days the fire has remained five kilometres from the Trans-Canada Highway.
On the weekend it was seven kilometres away from the highway and about 7,600 hectares in size.
The firefighters on site say progress is being made in critical areas.
Because of the proximity of the fire to the Trans-Canada Highway, the smoke it’s been emitting has raised concerns the OPP would have to close down the roadway because of safety concerns.
So far that hasn’t happened.
To improve visibility, OPP continue to ask motorists to drive in that area with their headlights and taillights on and to also slowdown so you have more reaction time to stop.
The forest fires in the Parry Sound cluster remain a priority as do those burning in the Lady Evelyn and Pembroke clusters.
This week Quebec sent water bombers to the northeast joining the herculean effort the beat back all the fires.
Firefighters from Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin and almost every Canadian province are in the northeast fighting the burning forests.
There are 47 forest fires in Northeastern Ontario and 21 of them are out of control.