Article author:
Canadian Press
Tyler Griffin
There are fewer forest fires in According to the state government, this is a small percentage from last summer when a record amount of land was set on fire in the state.
There have been 179 fires so far this year, burning 2,416 hectares of land, his Evan Lizotte, a fire intelligence officer at the Department of Natural Resources, recently said. said in an interview.
This compares with a 10-year average of 669 fires and 174,196 hectares of land burned by this time in the season, he said.
He also had more than 1,000 bushfires by the same time last year, in stark contrast to last year, when more than 782,119 hectares were burned, making him the most land on record in Ontario. was burned down. Last year, thousands of people were evacuated from indigenous communities affected by wildfires in the north.
Forest fires are caused by the weather, he said, Lizotte. So far this season, Ontario has seen a cyclical pattern of warm weather followed by periods of fairly widespread rainfall, which has largely contained fires, he said.
Last year's drought made the surface of the earth three to four times more susceptible to lightning strikes, which could lead to fires. On the other hand, some areas had snow until May this year, he said. Although the wildfire season began in early April, he added, there were no recorded fires in the state until April 28.
"We've had a lot of lightning hit the ground this summer, but there's no drought conditions in the deeper soils that would promote fires that could come to the surface," he said. said Lizotte.
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It's not uncommon for wildfire seasons to slow down, he said, noting that it was the case in 2014, 2008 and 2004.
In 2014, 303 fires burned 5,386 hectares of forest in his state. In 2008 he had 342 fires that burned him 1,316 hectares, and in 2004 he had 432 fires that burned him 1,617 hectares of land.
Nonetheless, there have been significant bushfires this season, including in Timmins, Ontario. Risotto said it accounted for most of the forest burned in the state this year. The fire has been out since early June, he said.
With the season slowing down, firefighters in Ontario were able to help other areas, he said. Last month, 60 state firefighters were sent to Manitoba to help with the Manitoba fires, and he later said an additional team of 40 people were sent to join them.
Lizotte said experts were also sent to the Yukon and Alberta to help with the large fires. All have since returned to Ontario.
The wildfire season will continue into November, and Risotto said it is difficult to predict how it will unfold. But he said Ontario doesn't typically have many fires after September.
In an emailed statement, the Department of Natural Resources said wildfire hazards are dynamic and states "never leave high-risk conditions."
The ministry also said it was difficult to directly link climate change and fire activity in a particular season because the weather changes from year to year. But he said climate change is expected to increase the number and risk of fires.
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