The 2025 Fire Season Has Begun

2024 Ontario Wildfire Statistics:

We were fortunate. In 2024, the wildfire season started lowly with a wet spring and summer. Ontario saw a total of 480 wildland fires affecting 89,841 hectares across the province, which was well below the previous year and the ten-year average. In comparison, 2023 saw 741 wildland fires that affected 441,474 hectares across the province. The ten-year average is 694 wildland fires and 201,781 hectares affected.

Regional breakdown:

Statistical differences between the Northeast Region and Northwest Region in 2024:

Total number of wildland fires by region

    • Northwest Region – 218 fires,
    • Northeast Region – 261 fires

Total hectares burned by region

    • Northwest Region – 69,938 hectares
    • Northeast Region – 19,903 hectares

The Ontario government has geared up for the 2025 wildland fire season, which runs from April 1 to October 31. To protect communities and resources, they’ve made significant investments in firefighting capacity.

Key Investments:
  • Nearly 100 new permanent positions to support fire season operations
  • $64 million investment in the wildland fire program, funding equipment and technology, including:
  • Forest fire suppression equipment
  • Emergency management software
  • Fuel systems and trucks
  • Four additional medium helicopters contracted to support fire suppression, bringing the total to 13
These efforts aim to safeguard Ontario’s 90 million hectares of Crown land and keep communities safe. With enhanced leadership and experience within the wildland fire program, Ontario is better equipped to respond to the challenges of the 2025 fire season.
Remember Ontario’s Outdoor Burning Regulations Are in Effect

In Ontario’s fire zone, you must follow Ontario’s Outdoor Burning Regulations to have an outdoor fire. By law, you need a fire permit to burn wood, brush, leaves and grass outside during the fire season (April 1 – October 31) unless you follow all the rules outlined below and:

      • conditions allow it to burn safely until extinguished
      • you take all necessary steps to tend, control and extinguish the fire
      • you are not having an open fire in a restricted fire zone
If you don’t burn safely or burn material without a permit when one is needed, you can be fined and held responsible for the cost of putting out the fire and for any property damage.

Collectively we can reduce the chance of wildfires by respecting the fire danger ratings and follow the rules associated with that level of danger. To that end, GBA posts a weekly fire danger rating every Thursday to alert you to the risks are in your area.

Additional Resources

  • GBA’s Fireproof your Life has some great resources and tips sheets to help mitigate the risk of fire at your cottage.
  • Get more information on fire and fire prevention here.
  • Learn how the ministry manages wildland fires (grass, brush and forest fires) in Ontario here.
  • Learn how to prevent fires while enjoying the great outdoors here.

 

This web post is intended for general information purposes only. While we have attempted to provide information that is helpful for our readers, GBA accepts no legal liability for the contents of this web post. Ensure you check original sources of information on municipal and provincial burning regulations for further details and updates.