Ontario sending team to fight wildfires in BC

Of those 184, 18 are of note and eight evacuation orders or alerts are now in effect.

“The availability of resources is at a critical level, and any significant increase in fire load will be hard for us to manage”, he said.

He says the ministry has begun prioritizing response based on factors such as human life and safety, property, critical habitat and timber.

Having already spent more than $90 million to fight fires, the province has already blown past the $63 million that it officially budgeted to fight fires in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

Thomson said he didn’t have specific numbers of how many firefighters would be coming from Australia and New Zealand.

Air quality status: If you see or smell smoke in the air, you’re encouraged to avoid strenuous outdoor activities, especially people with chronic underlying medical conditions.

Supports for British Columbians impacted by wildfires: Emergency Social Services (ESS) support has been provided for over 200 people in B.C. due to the wildfires east of Kelowna and in Port Hardy. The bombers were in Kamloops today and are heading to Vancouver Island later in the day, says a fire information officer in Kamloops. Staying indoors and in air conditioned spaces help to reduce fine particulate exposure.

This prohibition covers all B.C. Parks, Crown and private lands, but does not apply within the boundaries of local governments that have forest fire prevention bylaws and are serviced by a fire department.

A ministry official says while the mountainous terrain provides challenges for the Ontario firefighters, it shouldn’t be a problem for them.

“Western Canada is incredibly active right now and we’ve certainly got a pretty dynamic situation here but it pales in comparison to what’s going on in Saskatchewan in terms of their evacuations”. Campfire bans have now been implemented across the province.