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One of Ontario's worst forest fire seasons in 50 years

NEWS RELEASE MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES ************************* Northeast Region - August 15, 2011 Provincial overview A total of 53 new fires were reported in Ontario over the period of August 12 to 14.
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NEWS RELEASE

MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES

************************* Northeast Region - August 15, 2011

Provincial overview

A total of 53 new fires were reported in Ontario over the period of August 12 to 14.

Of these, 48 were in the Northwest Region.

Most of these new fires are small and were caused by lightning.

Fire crews made excellent initial attacks on these fires and there were no issues with containment efforts.

There are currently 114 fires active in the province.

To date, there have been 899 fires affecting a total area of 613,572 hectares, making 2011 the second-largest fire season by area in the last 50 years.

The large area affected is due to frequent lightning storms combined with hot, dry and often windy weather conditions in the northwest corner of the province for the past number of weeks resulting in a large number of fires which grew quickly in size.

Over 2,000 personnel remain on active fire duty including 454 from agencies outside of the province.

Some out of province staff will begin returning home on August 18.

Ontario crews continue to be refreshed as needed. Aviation support includes 13 waterbombers and 76 helicopters are currently providing aerial support for fire suppression efforts.

New fires

No fires were reported on Sunday, August 14.

Two new fires were reported by the evening of August 15.

No issues are anticipated with these fires.

Sudbury 70: undetermined cause, not under control, 0.3 hectares, northeast of Wanapitei Lake

Timmins 27: human-caused, being held,0.2 hectares, southwest of Timmins

Active fires

There are an additional nine active fires in the region.

They are in the Cochrane district, lightning caused, and are being observed around the border of James Bay.

Map of current fires in Ontario

Active fires in table format

Fire hazard

The fire hazard is moderate in the far north of the region, but drops to low in the southern portions of the region.

Fire arrivals are expected to stay low for the remainder of the week.

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