Fires in Northwetern Ontario have set a 50-year record for most hectares burned so far this season.
The Ministry of Natural Resources said 622,000 hectares of forest have burned so far this year, surpassing a record of 621,000 set in 1961.
"It’s been a big year for he amount of fire on the landscape," MNR fire operations technician Ryan Moffat said Tuesday afternoon.
But the number of fires, 712, to-date is low compared to other years. Moffat said only a few fires are conributing to such a large burn.
Due to wet conditions over the last five years, there has been a lot of fuel in Northwestern Ontario to burn this season Moffat said. Sioux Lookout Fires 35 and 70 are burning 253,000 hectares combined.
"That’s impacting our ability to contain them and keep them small," he said.
The main challenge has been making sure fire crews don’t get fatigues while battling such large fires. The MNR is hoping that the large number of hectares burned this year will make for a quieter season next year.
There are currently 77 active fires in Northwestern Ontario.
