Article content

At least 125 hectares of marsh land burned up in a massive fire at Point Pelee National Park

that raged overnight Wednesday and continued Thursday morning.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or More than 125 hectares of marsh land burned in fire at Point Pelee National Park Back to video

Park staff and the Leamington Fire Department became aware of the blaze around 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Firefighters arrived on the park property to find an area in flames near the marsh boardwalk.

The park was closed while OPP blocked traffic.

Multiple firefighting units worked to prevent the fire from spreading to the boardwalk and damaging park infrastructure.

Photo by Dax Melmer / Windsor Star

“It got extremely close to the boardwalk,” Monique Oltrop, acting superintendent of Point Pelee National Park, said on Thursday.

“That was the main focus of our fire teams — to protect the infrastructure. They put great effort into ensuring the fire did not breach the boardwalk.”

Oltrop said the flames appear to have started in the northwest portion of the marsh, and quickly covered an extensive area. At times, the fire line was estimated to be more than half a kilometre long.