ontario forest fires

Out-of-control wildfires are causing devastation in Ontario right now

At least eleven severe wildfires active in Ontario have been deemed "extreme" events by officials, including a pair of conflagrations now spreading at an alarming rate near the town of Wawa.

The pair of enormous blazes broke out on May 26 and 27, and have since grown to cover wide swathes of land. Ontario Forest Fires referred to the wildfires as "not in control" in a tweet on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, one of those two blazes appears to be spreading quickly, and has gained approximately 900 hectares of ground since Ontario Forest Fires issued its update the day before.

In addition to the eleven aforementioned extreme forest fires currently burning in the province, another seven smaller-scale blazes are active throughout Ontario for a total of 18 ongoing forest fires.

A stretch of hot, sunny weather has added to forest fire risks in Ontario over the past week, bringing fire hazards up to the high-to-extreme range.

News of these large blazes in the province comes amid a particularly rough season for wildfires across Canada, occurring as devastating wildfires make headlines in Alberta, B.C., and Nova Scotia.

So far, Ontario's ongoing wildfires have not caused anywhere near the destruction of these larger blazes in the country's eastern and western regions. Those wildfires have caused widespread ecological destruction, caused evacuations, wiped out homes and businesses, and have left an eerie orange glow in the skies.

Lead photo by

OPP


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