The 2018 wildfire season was one of the busiest fire seasons experienced in Ontario in recent years.
A total of 549 fires were recorded across the province during the month of July alone.
Provincially, 1,325 fires were recorded with 276,356 hectares burned, compared to last year which saw 776 fires and 111,955 hectares burned. The provincial 10 year average is 757 fires and 111,487 hectares burned over a season.
This data includes fires reported throughout the year, not just during the official fire season of April 1 to Oct. 31. It does not include prescribed burns, or fires occurring outside of the fire region.
These numbers may change over the coming months as wildfire reports are finalized and the data is checked and verified.
- The Northeast region had 486 fires burning a total of 62,661 hectares.
- This season approximately 29 per cent of fires provincially were caused by human activity, while approximately 71 per cent of fires provincially were lightning caused.
- There are 12 fires for which a cause has not been determined as of Nov. 1.
Fire clusters and fires of note:
Parry Sound 33
This fire consumed 11,362.5 hectares from July 18 until it was declared ‘being held’ on August 9 and then ‘under control’ on August 23. It was officially declared ‘out’ on Oct. 31.
North Bay 72
North Bay 72 reached a final size of 27,285.7 hectares after it was initially discovered on July 8.The fire was declared ‘being held’ on Aug. 7 and ‘under control’ on Aug. 15. North Bay 72 was finally declared out on October 29.
Temagami Fire Cluster
North Bay 69 was sparked on July 8.The fire was declared ‘under control’ on July 18 and finally deemed ‘out’ on Aug. 15 with a final size of 221 hectares.
Pembroke Fire Cluster
This fire cluster was made up of Pembroke 5, Pembroke 6, Pembroke 7, Pembroke 8 and Algonquin Park 11. At its peak, a temporary closure of Hwy 17 was initiated due to poor visibility caused by heavy smoke conditions blowing across the highway.
River Valley Fire Cluster
Heavy lightning occurring between July 3 and July 7, resulted in the ignition of North Bay 42, North Bay 62 and North Bay 25. After only a couple of weeks, fire activity was reduced significantly and good progress was made in suppressing the blazes.
Out of Province
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) manages movement between jurisdictions through the Mutual Aid Resource Sharing Agreement (MARS). Provinces and territories are able to share resources by putting in requests to CIFFC. Due to a busy fire season across the country in 2018, resources were requested from and sent across the country throughout the fire season.
For the 2018 fire season, Ontario provided 101 support staff and 407 FireRangers to help with fire situations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
Ontario received 799 forest firefighters and 128 support staff and/or equipment from Saskatchewan, Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin, British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Parks Canada and New Brunswick during the 2018 fire season.
