Alberta deploys 81 firefighters to help battle wildfires in Ontario

Alberta has deployed 81 firefighters to help battle wildfires in northern Ontario.

On Thursday, 41 wildland firefighters were deployed to the province and on Sunday another 38 firefighters and two support staff joined them.

Ontario had submitted a request for assistance to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) after a number of lightning strikes caused several new fires, according to the province.

The not-for-profit, which coordinates resource sharing between different wildland fire management agencies, said it was seeing moderate demand for resources across the country on Sunday, with significant wildifre activity in one or more areas.

There have been 330 wildfires in Ontario so far this year, well above the 10-year average of 207 fires in a season, which runs April through October.

There are 31 active fires in the province’s northwest region, which is where the Alberta firefighters have been deployed, seven of which are not under control. One fire, which has grown to 2,410 hectares, is located just 45 kilometres from the town of Nipigon.

A second deployment of firefighters is en route to Ontario today after a request for more assistance made through <a href=”https://twitter.com/CIFFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CIFFC</a>. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ABWildfire?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#ABWildfire</a> is proud to send another 40 skilled firefighters to help in Northwest Ontario. <a href=”https://t.co/HkYq1YD14P”>pic.twitter.com/HkYq1YD14P</a>

—@AlbertaWildfire

Alberta’s own wildfire season is underway, with nine fires currently under control.

Alberta has seen 528 fires so far this year, just under the five-year seasonal average of 539 fires. The fire danger is considered moderate to high across most of the province.

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