Constant battle

Some much-needed rainfall has helped to reduce the number of new fires in Northwestern Ontario.

There were eight new fires reported in the Northwest region on Sunday bringing the total number of active fires to 105. A passing weather system, which brought little precipitation and plenty of lighting strikes to the region, caused a majority of the new fires to start.

Fire crews and aircraft were able to keep the new fires small.

Gabby Rivard, fire information officer, said it was good to see the total number of fires drop but it didn’t mean it would stay that way for long.  A passing weather system caused 33 new fires on Friday and 14 on Saturday.

She said that shows how quickly the weather can make a difference.

“Some days we are ahead and the next day we’re falling behind,” Rivard said. “I think we are getting a little bit of reprieve here and there with some weather systems that are going to have sporadic showers. But unfortunately with those weather systems it brings gusting winds and lightening.”

Even with the rainfall, Rivard said they anticipate having a dry trend and another six weeks of hot weather, which could bring the number of active fires back up.

But the Ministry of Natural Resources is fully committed to tackling the fire situation right now. There are 2,000 Ontario firefighters working right now – most in the Northwest region – and there are another 672 firefighters and overhead personnel from outside of the province who have joined the fight.