This year’s wildland fire season, which goes from April 1 until October 31, is underway.
Last year’s wildland fire season was exceptionally busy.
Ontario’s resources to fight wildland fires include:
- Up to 800 fire rangers – with the ability to bring in more as needed – and a support staff of more than 500
- A fleet of specialized aircraft used to suppress wildland fires and transport staff across the province, including nine waterbombers, six twin otters, five turbo beavers and eight helicopters used for fire suppression and to move crews and equipment
- Fourteen fire management headquarters, two regional bases and one provincial co-ordination facility.
The province is closely monitoring weather conditions to detect fires early and to avoid large, complex fires, especially near communities and critical infrastructure.
Those enjoying the outdoors are reminded to ensure that campfires do not get too big and are fully extinguished at the end of the evening. Taking simple preventative measures is the simplest way to reduce the risk of fires getting out of hand.
Last year in Ontario there were 1,198 wildland fires, with approximately 793,325 hectares of forests burned. This number includes a 200,000-hectare fire, the largest since the province started keeping statistics in 1960. Each year about half of all wildland fires are caused by people
