Bulletin – Ontario Fire Update

Press Release

August 21, 2018

The Ontario government is pleased to say one of the largest fires in northeastern Ontario — Parry Sound 33 — is being held, and some waterway and road restrictions have been lifted.

“On behalf of all Ontarians, I want to thank the more than 1400 fire crew and support staff who were on the front-lines battling these fires. This progress would not have been possible without the help of firefighters and support staff from Ontario, other provinces and territories, Parks Canada, American states, and Mexico, who worked around the clock to ensure the safety and protection of the community,” said Jeff Yurek, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Mexican firefighters have returned home, and all other out-of-province fire crews will be demobilized today, after weeks of combined effort to control and minimize over 1100 fires across the province.

“As the fire situation in the northeast diminishes, we continue to monitor the fire situation in northwestern Ontario and western Canada and will be able to lend our resources to help fight the wildfires in the west,” said Yurek. Ontario has set up one Incident Management Team in British Columbia to assist with their fire situation and plans to deploy another team today.

While progress is being made, some parts of northwestern Ontario are still burning and the fire danger remains high to extreme. A cluster of six fires in Woodland Provincial Park is being monitored as they could merge after an extended dry period and drought conditions.

For more information on the current fire situation, please visit ontario.ca/forestfire.

Media Contacts

Media Desk

Communications Services Branch

416-314-2106

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