Toronto's poor air quality has made headlines worldwide, but it's not the only city struggling with wildfires. In northern Ontario, 183 wildfires continue to rage, forcing evacuations and highway closures.
The hardest hit regions are in the province's northwestern areas, with 140 active fires reported, including 47 that are out of control. In the northeast, officials have counted 43 active fires, with five classified as out of control and 32 under observation.
The largest fire, Thunder Bay 36, has blackened 318,000 hectares of forest and continues to grow. Two large fires near Fort Frances, classified as Fort Frances 14 and Fort Frances 15, are also out of control and have burned around 51,806 hectares and 41,830 hectares respectively.
Evacuation orders are in place for communities around several hotspots, including Thunder Bay, Dryden, and Fort Frances, as well as the Gull Bay First Nation. Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated that the fires have scorched around 735,000 hectares, an increase from the 650,000 hectares that burned late last week.
While southern Ontario has avoided more wildfire smoke due to changes in prevailing winds, Toronto earned the distinction last week of having the worst air pollution of any city on Earth, surpassing other major cities in terms of poor air quality.
