Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, October 12, 2023
The provincial and federal governments are investing in strengthening the province’s wildland fire program.
A total of $64 million is being provided to allow the province to hire and train personnel and fund the purchase of new support equipment like fuel systems, tankers, trucks and software systems.
“Our government is making critical investments in our wildland fire program – on the ground and in the air – to keep Ontario at the leading edge of wildland firefighting,” said the Minister of Natural Resources, Graydon Smith. “As an internationally recognized leader in wildland fire safety, we are preparing for more frequent and complex fire seasons to protect our communities now and in the future.”
Before this fire season the province also announced the following:
- Contracting the services of four additional medium helicopters to support fire suppression, increasing Ontario’s total number of contracted helicopters to 13
- Contracting the services of an additional plane to assist with community evacuations, if needed
- Creating more than 100 additional permanent positions to build leadership and experience within our wildland fire program
- Investing $5 million to help attract and retain wildland firefighting staff
- Supporting wildland firefighters and investigators with improved access to benefit entitlements and eligibility for the same presumptive benefits as municipal firefighters and fire investigators
So far this year there have been 450 wildland fires, with 69,395 hectares of forests being burned.
In addition to combating fires within the province, FireRangers, equipment, and aircraft have assisted with wildland fire management in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Northwest Territories.
