UPDATE: TUESDAY, 8:00AM:
The forest fire known as Parry Sound 33 is proving to be hard to fight as smoke from the burning trees threatens to close Highway 69.
Since Sunday the fire has grown almost 20 percent and is now five kilometres from the Trans-Canada Highway.
On Sunday it was seven kilometres from the roadway and 7,651 hectares large.
It’s now 8,973 hectares in size and remains out of control.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has said if smoke from the fire continues to worsen, the OPP may have to shut down part of Highway 69.
The forest fires in the Parry Sound cluster as well as those in the Lady Evelyn and Pembroke clusters remain priority areas.
The MNRF no longer considers the fires in the River Valley cluster priorities and removed the priority classification from the Temagami cluster fires over the weekend.
Meanwhile residents in the Alban area have been put on evacuation alert.
This is the first step before an evacuation order.
If the alert becomes an order to leave, residents will have 24 hours notice.
The municipality is asking Alban-area homeowners to let it know if they decide to leave before the evacuation order is issued.
This way municipal officials will know you have left and won’t spend time trying to look for you in case they think you’re somewhere in the Alban area.
The number to call is 898-2294 to tell someone you are leaving.
Leave a message if no one answers.
As of midnight Monday, there were 41 forest fires in the northeast with 15 of them out of control.
ORIGINAL STORY: Smoke from a major forest fire in the Parry Sound region may force Highway 69 to close.
Parry Sound 33, which is more than 82-hundred hectares in size, is only six kilometres from the roadway that connects Sudbury to Toronto.
Smoke from the fire has been drifting onto the highway for days.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says if the smoke becomes thicker the OPP may close part of the highway.
Police are also telling people that drones are not allowed in the vicinity and users could face a $3,000 fine.
Across Northern Ontario, there are more than 800 forest fires being fought by 600 firefighters from most Canadian provinces, the U-S and Mexico.