Fire situation improved to point where firefighters are returning home

This progress would not have been possible without the help of firefighters and support staff from Ontario, other provinces and territories, Parks Canada, American states, and Mexico, who worked around the clock to ensure the safety and protection of the community

(Photo supplied by MNRF).

It looks like there has been a dramatic turnaround in northeastern Ontario's forest fire situation.

The Ontario government says in an update that one of the largest fires in northeastern Ontario, Parry Sound 33, is being held, and some waterway and road restrictions have been lifted.

"I want to thank the more than 1,400 fire crew and support staff who were on the front-lines battling these fires," said Jeff Yurek, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. "This progress would not have been possible without the help of firefighters and support staff from Ontario, other provinces and territories, Parks Canada, American states, and Mexico, who worked around the clock to ensure the safety and protection of the community."

Mexican firefighters have returned home, and all other out-of-province fire crews will be demobilized today, after weeks of combined effort to control and minimize over 1,100 fires across the province.

"As the fire situation in the northeast diminishes, we continue to monitor the fire situation in northwestern Ontario and western Canada and will be able to lend our resources to help fight the wildfires in the west," said Yurek.

Ontario has set up one Incident Management Team in British Columbia to assist with their fire situation and plans to deploy another team today.

For more information on the current fire situation, click here.