Ontario’s premier says approximately 190 wildfires raging across the northern part of the province have already burned through more land than all of last year’s fire season total.

Premier Doug Ford and other provincial officials in an update today gave a sense of the massive and rapidly changing scope of the fires and the efforts to bring them under control with more than 150 fire crews and over 80 water bombers and helicopters battling the blazes.

Ford says about 81 of those fires are out of control and information from the Ministry of Natural Resources shows that 20 new fires were confirmed today in the northeast region alone.

The premier is praising the emergency responders for ensuring no fatalities, as 10 northern communities have already been evacuated or have evacuations underway, and four more preparing for possible evacuations.

Some First Nations leaders have criticized the government’s response and communication, in particular in the case of Whitesand First Nation and Namaygoosisagagun First Nation – also known as Collins First Nation – who evacuated residents without help from the province.

Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris says the fire near Collins First Nation started very close to the community so there was not a lot of lead time to get crews over there.

Smoke from the fires in northern Ontario has been drifting south, prompting air quality warnings across a large swath of the province, including Toronto.

Environment Canada says the hazy, smoky conditions may briefly improve today before poor air quality returns this evening. The weather agency says smoky skies could persist into the weekend.

Communities under evacuation orders include Armstrong, Lac La Croix First Nation, Whitesand First Nation, Gull Bay First Nation and Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation.

Today, the province added an evacuation order for an area along Highway 11, east of Atikokan and south of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2026.

– with files from Allison Jones in Toronto