Provincial and municipal officials say they’re focusing on leveraging new resources and applying lessons learned from last year, now that Ontario’s wildfire season is officially underway.
A total of 643 wildfires were reported last year in the province, burning nearly 600,000 hectares of land. Northwestern Ontario bore the brunt of wildfire activity in the province, with 11 communities facing restrictions or evacuations related to wildfire activity.
“I think the biggest lessons learned obviously was how do we stretch as many resources as we can across the province,” said Mike Harris, Ontario’s Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNR).
“We saw an uptick in fires early in the season … And it looks like we've got a bit of a drier spring coming in the northwest again this year. So being able to get crews positioned early, I think is key to making sure that we have a successful start to the season,” he added.
Harris was new to the MNR portfolio last year, and he said he spent a lot of time through the summer meeting with fire crews, supervisors and meteorologists to gain a better understanding of the operations that happen on the ground throughout the season.
“We use the term 'drinking from the proverbial fire hose' when you get into a new position within government. And I can tell you that was certainly very true last year,” said Harris.
Last season the Ontario Government promised to hire 68 permanent firefighting and support staff positions by the new season. It also committed to spending more than $500 million on six new De Havilland, DHC-515 waterbombers, but those aren’t expected to arrive until the early 2030s.
These commitments came as the union representing Ontario's wildland firefighters reported their members were working long hours contributing to "fatigue," and calls for funding increases to address a lack of resources.
“So we were able to add the additional 68 permanent year round positions, which is great. And we were able to reach a deal with our pilots and some of those support staff that are on the ground as well,” said Harris, adding that those numbers mean Ontario will be working with 140 crews and 28 aircraft, including helicopters and waterbombers.
Harris said his ministry is also committed to working with municipalities on preventative measures to keep communities safe from wildfires, before hot summer weather sets in.
More work to be done at city level when it comes to preparedness
That collaboration between different provincial and municipal agencies is something the new Chief of Thunder Bay Fire Rescue is hoping to ramp up in the coming month as well.
Dave Tarini was just appointed to lead the service at the beginning of April. He’s been with the service for 13 years, but before that he worked with the MNR as a wildland firefighter.
Tarini said his early career with the MNR provided him with knowledge of how to best prepare for wildland fire emergencies, and the recognition that more still needs to be done.
“We see that across across Canada, across North America, the issues that a lot of municipalities have with these large events. Whether it be Fort McMurray, Alta., Los Angeles, Calif., Halifax, N.S., Linton B.C., there's quite a few examples of wildland fire incursions that have caused quite a bit of damage,” said Tarini.
“It's tough to say that we're fully prepared for that. I think that we've done a fairly good job in a lot of areas, but there's still a lot of work to be done,” he added.
Tarini said Thunder Bay Fire Rescue has plans to engage with the public through education and awareness campaigns focusing on wildfire preparedness. That will include information about 72 hour preparedness kits, and educational material on how to make homes more resilient to wildfires using Fire Smart Principles.
Ontario’s wildfire season begins on April 1 each year, and less than two weeks into this season crews have already responded to at least one wildland fire in the Thunder Bay, Ont., district area about 4 kilometres south of Highway 588 between Frogportage Bay and Mallard Lake.
Officials said the fire reported on April 10 was short lived, as it covered 0.1 hectares of land, and it was called out by crews within the same day.