Boats pass through the lock on the Trent–Severn Waterway in Bobcaygeon, Ont., as wildfires burn nearby in Kawartha Lakes on Wednesday.Sam Riches/The Globe and Mail
After swimming with his family at Sandy Beach in the Ontario town of Buckhorn on the weekend, Patrick Porzuczek was driving north when the sky overhead began to rumble.
A plane was targeting a wildfire, named HAL019, near Burnt River in Kawartha Lakes, about two hours north of Toronto in Ontario’s cottage country.
“All of a sudden, we had a very large water bomber going along the highway in the same direction we were, dropping water,” he said. “My kids were like, ‘Oh my gosh, Dad, look at that.’”
The next day, nearby roads were closed as firefighters and aerial support, scooping more than 6,000 litres at a time from nearby Four Mile Lake, worked to control the blaze.
“It was a relief seeing how fast these bombers can get on this and start attacking the fire to save homes and livestock,” said Mr. Porzuczek, a former firefighter with 12 years’ experience, who shared updates on social media as he tracked the fire’s status.
But the relief didn’t last.
By Sunday, HAL019 had surged from five hectares to 27 hectares. It is now one of four significant fires that broke out in the Kawartha Lakes region in the past week, and has been classified as “being held,” which means authorities believe it is unlikely to spread.
Another, near the village of Kirkfield, has burned more than 33 hectares since Monday and remains not under control, the only fire left in the area with that designation.
The region is largely rural, with farms dotting the landscape, and a steady stream of cottagers throughout the summer.
A total fire ban remains in place across the Kawartha Lakes. Spotty showers and cooler overnights this week have brought some relief, but extreme dry conditions and debris from a large ice storm in March continue to feed the flames, and lightning has added the risk of new fires.
So far, there haven’t been any evacuation orders but the wildfires have left residents and cottagers on edge.
The situation in Kawartha Lakes is unfolding amid a severe fire season in several areas of the country, with notable blazes in central and Eastern Canada currently threatening homes and communities. About 7.5-million hectares have burned across Canada this year, more than double the 10-year average and making 2025 the second-worst fire season on record.
In neighbouring Trent Lakes, which is east of the Burnt River fire, boat traffic through the Trent–Severn Waterway locks and in tourist hot spots like Buckhorn hasn’t slowed, though locals remain wary.
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Judy McWhirter, general manager of the Buckhorn Community Centre, is preparing for this weekend’s Festival of the Arts, which draws more than 2,000 visitors over two days. She’s never experienced fires this close.
“This is all new … but we’ll be out of here on a moment’s notice if need be,” she said, adding that she doesn’t expect traffic to be affected by the fires, though the heat could slow things down.
At the Trent Lakes fire station, Chief Steve Brockbank said Buckhorn is on standby to assist, having already helped last weekend. He’s quick to add, though, that the Kawartha Lakes firefighters, headquartered in Bobcaygeon, are the ones “eating and sleeping and breathing it.”
“We’re here on notice for them, if there’s anything they need. We’re getting two daily briefings from them.”
With residents on high alert, he said everyone has been compliant with the current ban on fires – calling it the easiest burn ban he has had to implement.
On Wednesday in Bobcaygeon, southeast of the Burnt River fire, a familiar summer scene played out downtown despite the nearby blaze: boats passed through the lock, children watched with ice-cream cones in hand, and a U.S. boat crew detailed their travels along the Trent-Severn waterway, the river system that cuts through the region.
On the main strip, Eva Touchburn, a member of the Bobcaygeon & District Horticultural Society, tended flowers. She lives about 15 kilometres from the Burnt River fire.
“It’s kind of scary thinking it’s that close. We’re on about two acres of bush.”
She only became aware of the fire when a neighbour’s daughter in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., called, worried about the safety of their horses.
Eva Touchburn tends to flowers on the main strip in Bobcaygeon, Ont.Sam Riches/The Globe and Mail
“That’s the only way we knew.” Soon, calls and texts arrived from across Canada and beyond, asking how they were holding up.
Favourable winds have moved the fire away from her home, but the debris, leftover from the March ice storm, remains a worry. “That’s another scary part, knowing that’s what’s catching. They can’t get into it because of all that stuff down.”
Further west in the village of Fenelon Falls, Nicole Mitchell, director of finance and administration of the Grove Theatre, was selling tickets for a country concert to benefit a Kirkfield-area charity. She said attendance hasn’t changed yet, but the outdoor amphitheatre is vulnerable.
“It’s wood, surrounded by trees, which is surrounded by grass. I think there’s definitely a sense of impending doom with our wooden amphitheatre.”
And while rain cancelled shows last year, the heat has already shut down two in 2025, the only year that has ever happened, she said.
Ms. Mitchell tracks updates about the fires via Facebook, which she said is a key tool in a town with one of Ontario’s highest proportion of seniors.
Meanwhile, Mr. Porzuczek, the former firefighter, has kept posting updates of his own online. With firefighters making progress, he said residents remain alert, the summer’s dry conditions providing a constant reminder of the risk.
Between the ice-storm damage, once-green lawns now brown and crunching underfoot and withered leaves on birch and poplar trees, the signs are hard to miss.
“The leaves are turning yellow because it’s so dry. It feels like autumn in August.”
And with more extreme events likely, he said people are paying attention.
“It just shows how the environment is changing and how dry everything is. There’s a lot of debris and dead trees in the forest that are going to feed these fires.
“And unfortunately, with the way things are changing with global warming, there’s going to be more.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the position of Nicole Mitchell as director of finance and administration of the Grove Theatre, not the general manager.