Premier Doug Ford warned Monday that Ontario’s wildfire situation is “moving quickly,” with nearly 200 fires now burning across northern parts of the province, many of them listed as out of control.
The fires have scorched about 735,000 hectares of land, Ford said, up from the 650,000 hectares reported by the province last week, as crews continue battling flames across the north.
The growing wildfire threat has also forced more than two dozen communities and areas across northern Ontario to leave their homes in recent days, including 10 First Nations communities impacted by the fast-moving fires, according to Ford.
“We have 155 fire crews, and approximately 80 water-bombers and helicopters remain in operation across the north,” Ford told members of media Monday morning.
Ford also shared Ontario is now giving local authorities access to Canada’s national public alerting system in an update made Sunday.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Jill Dunlop said mayors, First Nations chiefs, police chiefs and other government and emergency management officials can now request that Alert Ready messages be sent to residents via television, radio and mobile devices.
Less than a week after Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, north of Thunder Bay, Ont., burned to the ground, another First Nations community in the region has also been ravaged by wildfire, according to reporting by CBC News.
Whitewater Lake First Nation is about 70 kilometres north of Armstrong and 250 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. The Anishinaabe community is considered a non-status First Nation, but it belongs to the Windigo First Nations Council.
Chief Pauline Drake tells CBC News much of the community’s homes, personal belongings and vital infrastructure have been lost, as nearly 200 wildfires continue to rage across the province.