Northern Ontario's forest fire season continues slow start, but 'extreme' fire conditions in place

Things are off to a slower-than-normal start for northern Ontario's forest fire season but officials say the conditions are ripe for fires to develop, with much of the region labelled an "extreme" or "high" fire risk. 

As of Monday afternoon, 60 fires had been reported in the region since the start of the fire season on April 1, said Ontario fire information officer Shayne McCool.

"This time last year we recorded, it was 77 fires by this date," McCool said. " And then over, the 10-year-average for this time of year, we're seeing 135 fires roughly."

"So we're under our 10-year-average, and we're under our number of fire starts from last year," he said. "That said, with the conditions that we're seeing now, we can expect to see more fires."

The fire hazard across much of northern Ontario is mostly extreme, with some pockets of high hazard, including around Thunder Bay. Meanwhile, heat warnings have been issued for the western and northern parts of the region; areas under the warnings include Kenora, Ear Falls, Webequie, Sioux Lookout, Peawanuck, and Attawapiskat.

Peter Kimbell, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said heat warnings are issued when an area is expected to see high temperatures of at least 29 C for two days, with lows dropping to a minimum of 18 C overnight.

Kimbell said the affected areas should see temperatures start to cool on Tuesday.

"Then it's probably going to bounce back up to warmer temperatures again by the end of the week," he said. "So I expect that we probably will see heat warnings back again by the end of the week and into the weekend, maybe not for Thunder Bay, but probably inching eastward toward Thunder Bay."

McCool said as of Monday afternoon, there were eight forest fires burning in the northwest, and nine in the northeast.

None of them are threatening any communities, he said.

"That said, we do have some larger fires," McCool said. "In Wawa, for example, we have Wawa Two and Wawa Three."

"Wawa Two is 105 hectares at this time and not under control, and then Wawa Three is 800 hectares at this time and not under control."

Meanwhile, 93 Ontario firefighters have been dispatched to assist in other areas across Canada, where some regions have seen a record-breaking start to fire season. Communities in the Northwest Territories, Alberta and Nova Scotia have been evacuated due to encroaching fires. 

Most of the firefighters dispatched to assist elsewhere have been sent to Alberta, but some are also deployed to Minnesota and the Northwest Territories, McCool said.

"When it comes time to decide to deploy staff, we closely monitor the situation at home and determine if we have the ability to provide resources to support those deployments," he said. 

"It was decided at the time of the last deployment that we did have an opportunity to to send some staff," McCool said. "We maintain enough staff at home to ensure that we're able to respond to the current and ongoing fire situation here."