Donald Teuma-Castelletti
THORNE May 14, 2018
An afternoon fire in Thorne spread its destruction quickly, rapidly consuming 15 acres before being brought under control on May 14.
The Thorne Fire Department received the call at 2:35 p.m., and firefighters were on the scene at 929 Route 366, east of Ladysmith, shortly after.
Consuming a shed and garage on the property, Thorne Fire Chief Daniel Ladouceur said that while they’re without a definite answer to the cause, there was a strong theory stemming from sparks produced by a heater.
“Probably particles from there, with high winds that day, touched the ground where the leaves were dry at the back of the yard,” said Ladouceur. “Then it circled around, and it hit the shed, and then the garage, and of course it kept going towards the mountain, and that’s why there’s 15 acres that burnt.”
Soon after the Thorne department arrived, the Otter Lake Fire Department joined them to provide assistance.
“There were approximately 17-18 firefighters that worked from around 2:30, until the last crew left around 8 p.m.,” he continued. “When we got there half the garage was burnt, so we couldn’t save it. Our main thought was to protect the two other houses, and that’s what we did, so we got the job accomplished.”

While Ladouceur was prepared to request further assistance from the Lac des Loups department, it proved unnecessary when reinforcements from La Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) arrived. It was around 4:15 p.m. when the SOPFEU helicopter and ground crew were on-scene to begin their assessment.
About an hour later, the water bombers were available to help, and began scooping up water from nearby lakes.
“They did an excellent job. A lot of people were saying, well how come there was a big delay, because I pretty much called them as soon as we got on scene, around 10 to three,” said Ladouceur. “Within 30 minutes, the spotter plane was there and yes, it took a little bit longer, but they had another fire somewhere else happening.”
“When the ground crew arrived they assessed the situation, but by then the houses were protected, so there was no danger,” explained Ladouceur, of the bombers’ delayed arrival. “It’s unfortunate that the forest was burning but as long as there’s no lives or buildings in danger, they have to prioritize, of course.”
When the bombers did arrive, it made for an exciting, and relieving sight for the crews. Ladouceur said he soon lost track of how much water was dumped on the fire.
“I don’t know how many loads they put, but they flew over us for a good while, I can’t really say how long but at least hours,” he continued.
The bombers continued to drop water on the fire later in the evening, while the SOPFEU ground crew worked onsite until 10 p.m. that night. The ground crew would return the next two days to ensure that the situation would not flare up again, and on May 17 at noon they informed Ladouceur that they were in the clear.
Adding to the commotion and danger in Thorne, a second call of a smaller scale danger occurred later that evening on Monday, while Ladouceur’s crew was still at the first call.
“We had a second call during the intervention around 7 p.m. for a hydro line and a possible, little forest fire,” said Ladouceur. “But at that point I had already freed Otter Lake around 6 p.m. from the original fire, so I called them as a backup to go on that call.”
With a few of the Thorne firefighters and the Otter Lake crew, the situation was soon under control, especially after receiving a single dump from one of the SOPFEU bombers.
Ladouceur was happy to report that there were no injuries to the public or firefighters on that day.
While a fire ban had not been in place before that Monday, the risk was recorded to be very high. Ladouceur said that usually, they would go off the SOPFEU website’s recommendations, but decided to initiate an official fire ban following those calls.
Ladouceur and Thorne Mayor Karen Kelly put the fire ban in place, and soon after, Otter Lake did the same.
The chief wanted to advise the public to respect the fire ban while it is in place, because it does not take much to cause extensive damage in these conditions. Despite having snow on the ground just a few weeks ago, the upper layers of foliage in the bush can still be dry and easily create an out of control situation.
“We’re getting these high winds now and that’s what’s causing the dry season,” he explained. “People think it’s just the sun and the heat but it’s the high winds that we’ve been getting, too.”