The fire moved uncontrollably upon the towns of Porquis Junction, Iroquois Falls, Kelso, Nushka, Matheson, and Ramore, destroying them completely and causing extensive damage to Homer and Monteith.

The village was rebuilt and renamed to Val Gagné, named after local priest Wilfrid Gagne, who died rescuing churchgoers from the fire.

[5] The great fires are the subject of the books Killer in the Bush by Michael Barnes, and Il pleuvait des oiseaux by Jocelyne Saucier.

An Ontario Heritage Foundation historical plaque stands in Alarie Park near Matheson and reads: THE GREAT FIRE OF 1916 On July 29, 1916, fires that had been burning for some weeks around settlers’ clearings along the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway were united by strong winds into one huge conflagration.

Burning easterly along a 40-mile (64 km) front, it largely or completely destroyed the settlements of Porquis Junction, Iroquois Falls, Kelso, Nushka, Matheson and Ramore.