Here's the latest on northwestern Ontario's forest fires: Thursday, July 30
Northwestern Ontario is currently battling 117 active wildfires, with 14 communities forced to evacuate. Local leaders are calling for a public inquiry into the provincial government's emergency management response.
Why it matters
The scale of the wildfires and the resulting mass evacuations highlight critical infrastructure and emergency response challenges in remote Canadian regions.
As of Thursday, 14 communities have been evacuated, five have returned home and one is in the process of returning.
The ministry has held over 100 coordination calls with First Nation chiefs, leaders and communities, emergency management partners, municipalities and the federal government since the first Request for Assistance was received on July 14, according to Minister Jill Dunlop.
"The number of evacuees is reported into the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) by community leadership. Evacuation numbers may fluctuate as community leadership confirm the total number of evacuated community members with the ministry," wrote spokesperson Julia Facca on Wednesday.
Eabametoong First Nation is planning to start sending evacuees home from Niagara Falls as early as Friday, the community posted on Facebook.
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