Killarney village not under evacuation order: Ted East
KILLARNEY — Ted East wants the world to know Killarney is “open for business.”
Certainly the village of Killarney on the northeast end of Georgian Bay.
“People are calling and telling me ‘You have to get out, you’ve been evacuated.
“The media has it all wrong.”
East, who owns Killarney Outfitters,” says business is still “booming” where he is in the village where the township office is located.
It’s almost a two-hour drive away from the fire, which is near the community of the French River, and Alban, which is on evacuation alert to get out at any moment. Alban is 80 km southeast of Sudbury.
But he’s a little worried all the publicity is sending the wrong message about the remote tourist community.
While parts of the larger community of Killarney are off limits now; and the nearby Henvey Inlet First Nations community residents have been evacuated for more than a week to accommodations in nearby Sudbury, East says most of the rest of Killarney is “open for business.”
He says Killarney is the second largest municipality in Ontario, geographically, after a number of unorganized communities north of Parry Sound amalgamated in 1999.
It is 1,760 square kilometers, and a population of just over 300.
But East, whose family owned the Killarney Mountain Lodge for more than four decades until 2015, admits the Parry Sound 33 fire is “out of control.”
“It’s not pretty,” he says,” but he says they’re open for business.
He says the fire is 60 miles away from the community’s capital where he rents out “300 boats” (canoes, kayaks, etc.) to wilderness-seekers in northern Ontario.
“The smoke is blowing the other direction” from the village of Killarney.
But Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry staff say Parry Sound 33 is within 5 km of Hwy. 69.
The TransCanada Highway is the main road between Parry Sound and Sudbury, along the east coast of Georgian Bay.
East’s family bought Killarney Mountain Lodge in the early 1960s, when they also owned the Muskoka Sands in Gravenhurst.
After selling the latter, they built the Killarney resort in to a thriving remote tourist retreat famous for its fishing and more natural wilderness experiences.
East’s father died at 97 last September, after selling the business a few years ago and Ted started Killarney Outfitters. His mother Annabelle still lives in Parry Sound where the couple retired to after selling the poplar lodge three years ago.
Jim Rook, Killarney’s emergency services manager, says the fire is in ward 2, which has a “no access” order on it.
It is located on the east side of the township, near Key River and Pickerel River, between Georgian Bay in the west and Hwy. 69 in the east.
Nearby Henvey Inlet First Nation was evacuated almost two weeks ago.
He said he spoke to the CBC and CTV to remind them the village is a long way from the fire site and that it is indeed open, including the marina where 100 boats are docked.
