February 20th 2024
With six weeks until wildfire season, the Ford government is on a campaign to silence its wildland firefighters’ dire warning about the catastrophic state of the province’s fire program. Make no mistake, winter is almost over and the fire bans are coming.
Fire bans are used by the province when the threat of wildfire is extreme “or when firefighting resources are limited,” and though the government cannot readily influence the severity of the hazard, it can, and does, control the limitation of firefighting resources.
Unfortunately, as Ontario’s vast forests become more volatile, its wildfire program grows increasingly fragile due to a series of crises the government has been ignoring for years.