Ontario & Wildfires: 1)Premier Doug Ford warns wildfire evacuees to not return to their homes; 2)Barrie one of host cities as about 1,800 flee northern Ontario wildfires; more evacuations possible; 3)More people flee fires, destruction in northern Ontario as blazes rage across Canada

1)Premier Doug Ford warns wildfire evacuees to not return to their homes

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, July 18, 2026

Premier Doug Ford said the province has opened reception centres for people fleeing northern Ontario wildfires as he asked evacuees to not return to their homes, saying going back could jeopardize firefighting efforts.

The warning comes as one First Nation has said residents were taking fire suppression into their own hands over fears the province wasn’t doing enough.

The premier was joined by other government officials at a news conference in Thunder Bay, where many wildfire evacuees have sought shelter.

Ford said there were nearly 200 active wildfires raging across the province on Saturday, seven more than the day prior.

“Do not go to your campsites. Do not go back to your homes,” Ford told people under evacuation orders on Saturday. “We will find you a place, a hotel room, we’ll get you food, we’ll make sure you’re well taken care of.”

Ford said the waterbombers deployed to fight back the flames won’t drop water on areas where pilots spot people on the ground.

An official with an evacuated First Nation community said earlier this week that 26 residents, including people from a neighbouring town, returned to their communities over concerns the province wasn’t committing enough resources to protect their homes.

Whitesand First Nation emergency response manager Devon Wanakamik said the people who returned were helping to dig a firebreak with heavy machinery, as well as laying sprinkler lines, in violation of the evacuation order. Wanakamik also urged residents not to return to the area.

Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris said Saturday that the province has teams to protect infrastructure from wildfires but they’re “spread pretty thin” across the province.

Ford said the province has opened reception centres, including one in Thunder Bay, to help connect people with shelter, food and medical services, as well as transfer evacuees to other cities like Toronto and Niagara Falls. 

He said the province is working with Ottawa and the Canadian Armed Forces to establish services to transport, accommodate, feed and register evacuees.

The Ontario wildfires have already scorched more land than all of last year’s fires and sent up plumes of hazardous smoke that have choked the skies across the province and in parts of the United States.

Multiple northern communities have already been evacuated or have evacuations underway, and others are preparing for possible evacuations.

Ford reiterated Saturday that more than 150 fire crews and more than 80 water bombers and helicopters are battling the wildfires and the province would spare no expense in keeping people safe.

Harris said a favourable weather forecast through the weekend and into next week could help further suppress wildfire activity that has slowed in the past day.

The natural resource minister said fires aren’t growing as quickly thanks to recent rain that is also helping to tamp down smoke, allowing waterbombers better access to fight fires.

“What we really need to see is some of those sustained rains but without the lightning strikes because the overwhelming majority of fires that we’re seeing now were actually caused by a storm that came through about a week ago,” Harris said.

At Saturday’s new conference, Ford took aim at American officials who have complained about Canadian wildfire smoke blanketing parts of the U.S.

President Donald Trump threatened Friday to increase tariffs on Canada due to the smoke.

Ford said the detractors have a “very short memory” and spoke about Canada and Ontario’s efforts to support California during the state’s devastating wildfires in January last year.

“That’s what neighbours do. You don’t get on and start threatening and criticizing because guess what? One day, it’s gonna be your turn. And we’re gonna be down there without hesitation to support our neighbours,” Ford said. 

Ford has faced backlash over the level of funding and resources the province has allocated for wildfire response, while Harris has fielded criticism for his ministry’s handling of the evacuations of two First Nation communities. 

Residents of Whitesand First Nation and Namaygoosisagagun First Nation – also known as Collins First Nation – fled approaching wildfires without help from the province. 

Harris said Friday the fire that swallowed Collins First Nation as its residents escaped in boats was only spotted when it was already at the community’s doorstep because it spread so fast. 

Members of Collins First Nation and Whitesand First Nation are sheltering in Thunder Bay hotels, which, according to the city’s top fire official, are near or at capacity after evacuees began to flow in on Monday. 

Thunder Bay Fire Chief Dave Tarini said at least 500 people fleeing wildfires are sheltering in Thunder Bay, but that’s likely a conservative estimate as it’s hard to gauge an accurate number.

Most evacuees are being hosted by First Nation organizations or found available hotel space themselves, the fire chief says. He adds that Thunder Bay has not been officially asked to be a host community by the province, which would involve the city finding spaces to accommodate evacuees.

Tarini, who started his career fighting wildfires with the Ministry of Natural Resources in 1991, said this fire season is unprecedented in his more than 35 years as a firefighter.

“The amount of fires that are currently burning and the size of the fires is something that I personally haven’t seen in the Thunder Bay district in my career,” he said.

Tarini said he’s alarmed at how fast the fires are moving overnight and he expects the wildfires to continue blazing unless the region sees a period of sustained rainfall. 

“This is taxing a lot of the resources that are out there and we’re certainly not out of the woods by a long stretch,” he said.

An expanded evacuation alert has been issued for 29 townships threatened by a 550-square-kilometre fire raging south of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation. 

Residents of towns including Ames, Blackwell, Goldie, Lamport, Michener, Savanne and Upsala are asked to be prepared to evacuate on short notice. A full list of townships under the evacuation alert can be found on Ontario’s forest fires web page.

–By Sharif Hassan in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Kathryn Mannie in Toronto

2)Barrie one of host cities as about 1,800 flee northern Ontario wildfires; more evacuations possible

Source Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, July 20 2026

A young family boards an evacuation flight from Neskantaga First Nation during northern Ontario wildfire evacuations.

Around 1,800 people have fled their communities due to wildfires raging across northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said Monday, as officials consider further evacuations.

Fires have destroyed communities, prompted numerous evacuation orders and filled the sky across Ontario and beyond with noxious smoke.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Jill Dunlop said they have coordinated 13 evacuations.

“They’re in host cities like Thunder Bay, Kapuskasing, Sudbury, Barrie, and then Toronto has put their hand up as well as Niagara Falls.”

Recent rain helped to temper fire activity over the weekend, but officials warned the hazard remained high as another First Nation reported widespread destruction.

Chief Pauline Drake of Whitewater Lake First Nation said Sunday that a wildfire had destroyed much of the remote community about 250 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

Last week, Namaygoosisagagun First Nation — also known as Collins First Nation — was destroyed by a fast-moving fire. Dramatic photos and videos showed residents fleeing in boats as a huge wall of smoke and flames rose behind them.

A planned evacuation flight out of Neskantaga First Nation was cancelled Monday due to a mechanical issue with the plane.

While no provincial evacuation order has been issued for the community, the First Nation declared a state of emergency last week and began to charter flights for its residents.

Three flights were chartered to evacuate about 95 residents from the fly-in community to Thunder Bay on Saturday, the chief said. Monday’s flight was expected to take 35 people.

The province has faced repeated criticism from First Nations over its handling of wildfire evacuations. Ford has said all available resources were being used to tame the blazes and help evacuees.

On Monday, Ontario’s emergency preparedness minister appeared to clarify remarks she made over the weekend about the Alert Ready system. She said the national alert system was already available to communities after saying Sunday it had been expanded.

“It is just reminding municipalities and First Nation communities, this is another tool in the toolbox that they can use,” said Minister Jill Dunlop.

Meanwhile, air quality warnings remained in place from around Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay due to wildfire smoke.

So far this season, fires have burned through roughly 7,350 square kilometres of Ontario forest, an area more than 10 times the size of Toronto.

Much of that burned last week, on the back of severe thunderstorms and a scorching heat wave around Thunder Bay where temperatures soared to around 15 degrees above seasonal.

Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, has made Canada’s wildfire seasons longer and more intense.

3)More people flee fires, destruction in northern Ontario as blazes rage across Canada

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kathryn Mannie, July 19, 2026

Another Ontario First Nation was razed by fire and more people fled their northern communities over the weekend as Prime Minister Mark Carney said more than 5,000 firefighters were battling blazes across the country.

Carney said he visited federal workers in Ottawa on Sunday morning who are helping with wildfire response efforts in northwestern Ontario and other provinces.

Extreme heat waves and dry conditions have made this year “one of the most intense wildfire seasons in Canadian history,” the prime minister said in a social media post.

Nearly 1,000 wildfires are blazing from coast to coast and almost 200 of them are in northern Ontario, causing more destruction.

Chief Pauline Drake of Whitewater Lake First Nation said Sunday that a wildfire destroyed much of the remote community about 250 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont.

“Homes, personal belongings and vital community infrastructure have been lost,” Drake wrote in a statement.

“The lands that hold the graves of ancestors and recently departed family members have also been impacted, deepening the grief felt by community members.”

Michael Heintzman, a spokesperson for Nishnawbe Aski Nation that represents dozens of First Nation communities, said members of Whitewater Lake First Nation were still in the community when the fire reached its doorstep.

The First Nation had been monitoring the fire since July 13 with help from local outfitters in the area, Heintzman said.

“They never received official notice from the province that the fire was approaching their community,” Heintzman said, noting that the majority of residents are now sheltering in Thunder Bay.

Earlier this week, Namaygoosisagagun First Nation — also known as Collins First Nation — was destroyed by a fast-moving fire. Dramatic photos and videos showed residents fleeing in boats as a huge wall of smoke and flames rose behind them.

More than 200 kilometres north of Collins First Nation, another community was in the process of evacuating on the weekend.

Neskantaga First Nation chartered three flights to evacuate about 95 residents from the fly-in community to Thunder Bay on Saturday, Chief Gary Quisess said. Another evacuation flight is scheduled for Monday and evacuees will travel onwards to Toronto as Thunder Bay faces a shortage of hotel rooms.

Quisess said smoke has been filling people’s homes while food and water deliveries to the remote community have been interrupted by wildfires. He wanted to get people out before the situation worsens.

“Safety, the food security, there’s no guarantee there,” the chief said in an interview.

Neskantaga First Nation declared a state of emergency on Thursday. While there is no provincial evacuation order for the community, and the wildfire danger rating in the area was listed as moderate on Sunday afternoon, Quisess said some residents have spotted new wildfires closing in.

The chief said he has asked the Ministry of Natural Resources to investigate.

Quisess said it’s been frustrating feeding updates to the province about the wildfire conditions in the area, instead of the other way around, as many other evacuated First Nations have said the province left them in the dark.

The province has defended its wildfire response, with Premier Doug Ford saying all available resources were being used to tame the blazes and help evacuees.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Jill Dunlop said in a memo Sunday that mayors, First Nations chiefs, police chiefs and others can request that Alert Ready messages be sent to residents via television, radio and mobile devices.

The Alert Ready system is used countrywide to alert the public to emergencies such as tornadoes, wildfires and Amber Alerts.

In a letter to Ontario’s heads of council, Dunlop said the province was “expanding access” to the system because of this year’s significant wildfire season. But her office did not immediately respond when asked if First Nations chiefs and others listed already had the ability to make such alert requests.

The province has also faced criticism for its handling of some evacuations after residents of Whitesand First Nation and Collins First Nation fled approaching wildfires without help from the province.

The province said recent rain in northern Ontario has helped slow some wildfires, but Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris said Saturday the region needs sustained rainfall to quell the blazes.

Multiple northern communities have already been evacuated or have evacuations underway, and others are preparing for possible evacuations.