QUEENS PARK – Premier Doug Ford released the following statement about the wildfire situation in Northern Ontario:
“Ontario is currently battling many active fires in Northern Ontario affecting over 20 communities. This includes First Nations communities who have declared emergencies due to risk to public health and wellness. Emergency response personnel are working closely with the Ontario Provincial Police, federal partners, community leaders, and other agencies to fight the fires in Northwestern Ontario and ensure people can evacuate safely.
Today, I raised the issue directly with Premier Scott Moe and he agreed to help. Saskatchewan has offered to host up to 2,000 evacuees. I want to thank Premier Moe and the good people of Saskatchewan for their generosity in helping us to move our people out of harm’s way and ensure they are safely housed during this extremely difficult time.
I would also like to thank our provincial partners, including Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, and Quebec for providing crews and equipment to assist with our evacuation efforts. Ontario is further receiving help from federal, First Nations, U.S. state and other partners. We are grateful for the generous support from all of our partners.
Extensive outreach has happened to our municipal partners and many have agreed to step up and help evacuees. Our government is asking them to move quickly to formalize their agreements to assist with housing evacuees. We are committed to addressing any questions or concerns municipalities may have, but we urge them to move quickly to help those affected.
We know first responders from Canada and beyond have been working around the clock over the past few days. I want to thank every single one of our frontline personnel for what they are doing to help people get to safety and protect the communities most at risk. Our government will continue to closely monitor weather and fire conditions and provide updates.
The safety and well-being of the people in the affected areas is our top priority as we continue to respond to this emergency.”
