As Alberta battles brutal wildfires, northern Ontario has been largely spared so far

While the wildlife season in northern Ontario has had a "slow start," crews have been sent from the region to battle the flames engulfing much of Alberta.

There were 76 active wildfires in Alberta as of Wednesday afternoon and a total of 421 wildfires have burned more than 410,000 hectares across the province this year, according to the province's wildfire website.

Firefighters from Ontario answered Alberta's call for help, with 45 wildland firefighters arriving over the weekend and an additional 66 arriving Wednesday, said Melissa Story, provincial information officer with Alberta Wildfire.

The Ontarians have been deployed to some of the province's major wildfires, including HWF-036 near the Rainbow Lake community. That fire is classified as out of control at more than 18,900 hectares.

They have also been embedded into some of Alberta's incident management teams and are assisting in day-to-day operations, Story said.

"The situation here in Alberta is very unique at this time of year," she said. "We're seeing astronomical wildfire growth on the landscape right now, so all the help we can get is appreciated."

The province is now looking internationally for further resources.

"We have lots of dry, dead vegetation on the landscape and the temperatures turned very quickly. We've had a lot of wind and a lot of hot dry conditions, which have just contributed to the wildfire situation here," she said.

1 fire in northwestern Ontario

Smoke from Western Canada has been visible in parts of Ontario, but the situation is much different on the ground. As of Wednesday afternoon, there was one active wildfire in northwestern Ontario — called Kenora 5 — located about six kilometres north of Wabaseemoong Independent Nation.

The .3-hectare fire is currently under control, according to Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services.

"We continue to see a slow start to the fire season in Ontario across both regions, both the northwest and the northeast regions," fire information officer Alison Bezubiak told CBC News.

"So far this year, we've seen 16 fires in the province of Ontario compared to 25 at the same time last year, and compared to 64 in the 10-year average. A total of 15.2 hectares have been burned this year in the province."

The northern part of the region is under a moderate to high fire hazard, while the hazard is low for the rest of northwestern Ontario, she said.

There are no active wildfires in the northeastern part of the province. While the fire hazard is moderate to high in the majority of the region as of Wednesday, it remains low across Manitoulin Island, the North Shore of Lake Huron and areas along Lake Superior.

Last year saw a cyclical pattern of warm weather followed by periods of significant rain, which mostly kept the fire hazard in check, said Bezubiak.

It is hard to predict the long-term fire forecast this season, since forest fires are heavily influenced by the weather. However, "some of the weather trends that have been observed give the indication that summer is trending toward normal seasonal values for both precipitation and temperature," she said.

Day time burning restricted until end of October

As people are cleaning up their yards, low humidity and rising temperatures are drying out grasses, pine needles and leaf litter, posing greater risks for human-caused fires in the springtime, Bezubiak explained.

The public is reminded that day time burning is banned from April 1 to Oct. 31. Burning should be done responsibly and people are asked to follow Ontario's outdoor burning regulations.

Among these rules are that fires are to be ignited no sooner than two hours before sunset and extinguished no later than two hours after sunrise, and that people should always have tools and water on hand to keep fires contained.