Wildfire risk “extreme” for southern Ontario

While firefighters battle a 30-hectare forest fire in the community of Kawartha Lakes, which is about 1.5 hours north of Toronto, Natural Resources Canada is warning the risk of wildfires in southern Ontario is now “extreme”.

This map from the federal ministry shows the fire danger in much of southern and south-central Ontario, including Hamilton, Niagara, Brantford-Brant, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Toronto has gone up dramatically with the recent heat wave, a wave which does not look to end for another couple of days. Red is considered “extreme” and is the highest risk of fire according to NRC.

Many municipalities across the province now have total fire bans in place.