Ontario firefighters depart for Alberta
More than 80 staff members from Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services left Sudbury and Dryden this morning to assist the province of Alberta with its escalated fire situation. This includes FireRangers, support staff and one incident management team.
The sharing of resources across Canada is facilitated by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre in Winnipeg under the Mutual Aid Resource Sharing agreement.
The fire situation in Ontario has been relatively quiet since the beginning of the 2019 fire season, and Ontario fire-fighting crews remain fully prepared to respond to any forest fires that may arise here at home.
Northwest Region
There were no new forest fires in the Northwest Region by the late afternoon of May 24. There is one active fire in the region at present.
- Kenora 25, a 19-hectare fire that was reported near Wabaseemoong Independent Nation in the Kenora sector, May 21, is now listed as under control.
Fire hazard in the Northwest Region
The fire hazard is currently low across the Kenora, Dryden Fort Frances, Thunder Bay sectors and north shore portion of the Nipigon sector. Conditions in the far north range from moderate to a high hazard in parts of the Red Lake and Nipigon sectors.
Help prevent forest fires
Adopt safe campfire practices! Choose the site of your campfire carefully and keep your fire small. Stay nearby: never leave it unattended. Put your fire out by drowning it with water. Be sure that it is extinguished prior to leaving the site. Stir the ashes with a stick to uncover hot coals and then drown it again. You can never be too safe.
Consider alternatives to burning brush or yard waste, such as chipping or composting when possible, or saving burn piles for the fall or after the fire season. Use of outdoor fires must follow the outdoor burning rules set out in the Forest Fire Prevention Act of Ontario. Fires are to be started no sooner than two hours before sunset and extinguished no later than two hours after sunrise. Fires should never be left unattended and tools and water should be close at hand to put the fire out. More details on outdoor burning regulations can be found online at Ontario.ca/forestfire
To see a complete list of fires across the province click on the interactive map. You can also get the latest update on the condition of any fire by clicking the fire icon.
Fire numbers and online information:
- Forest Fire Reporting Number – 310-FIRE (3473)
- Twitter account
