Sunny dry spell brings elevated fire risk to southwestern Ontario, federal map shows

Sunny dry spell brings elevated fire risk to southwestern Ontario, federal map shows

The region hasn't seen any significant rainfall for at least 11 days

A prolonged stretch of warm and dry weather has brought with it an elevated risk of wildfires in the London area and across southwestern Ontario, according to a federal fire danger map.

As a result, southwestern Ontario has been at a high risk of fire danger for the past several days, rising to extreme on Thursday and Friday, according to a map from the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, or CWFIS.

The map is a general indicator of how easily a fire may ignite in forest vegetation, how readily it will spread, and how hard it may be to control, according to Natural Resoures Canada.

Several forest fires are already burning in the province, including west of Sudbury and south of Timmins. One fire has forced the evacuation of Mattagami First Nation, while a separate fire in Ontario's far north has led to the evacuation of Weenusk First Nation.

"I think the danger is there for any sort of forested area," said Liam Buchart of the Canadian Forest Service.

"In southwest Ontario, there's a lot of farm land...so that helps to mitigate some of the risk in those areas. (In) those more unmanaged forest areas, it's pretty similar, but it is that combination of the land cover that changes things quite a bit."

Southern Ontario has been under an area of high pressure for more than a week, resulting in the current conditions. Buchart says the region can get very hot in the summer, but it's less common to see the humidity so low right now.

Rain is expected to arrive on Saturday, bringing the region's fire danger back down to low, according to the CWFIS forecast.

"The scientific consensus on climate change and wildfires is really that climate change is driving weather patterns that are conducive to higher fire danger," Buchart said.

"To say the same thing is going to occur over southern Ontario, it's certainly possible, and more likely. I think in the future there will be a few more days like this where you have these hot and dry conditions."

Officials with the London Fire Department say the elevated fire risk is something they're keeping an eye on, particularly as it pertains to brush and grass fires and open air burns in backyards.

"Generally, we've been very fortunate in this area not to have experienced any fires like that. However, if we do respond to fires like that, it may be along a highway, it may be perhaps in a field," said Deputy Fire Chief Matt Hepditch.

"There are times where some of these fires can occur by a discarded cigarette. If you're smoking in your backyard, don't drop the cigarette butt on the grass to extinguish it, don't drop it into mulch, don't drop it between the slats of a deck."

Under the city's open air burning by-law, fires over a certain size require a permit, and residents are not allowed to burn yard waste -- only commercially produced charcoal, briquettes, and clean, dry seasoned wood.

Residents must also constantly attend any open air fires, have a means of extinguishment on hand, ensure it does not create a nuisance and fully extinguish the fire before leaving.

Hepditch says concerns around wildfire risks have continued to grow in the more than 20 years he's been in the fire service, saying it's something the department is "very much aware of."

The department runs public education events throughout the summer, and regularly posts about fire safety on social media, he said. Other resources are also available through the City of London website.

With files from Matthew Trevithick, Alessio Donnini