There are still more than 2,000 people living in temporary accommodations because of the wildland fires burning in northwestern Ontario.
Fourteen communities were evacuated, many of which are First Nations.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Jill Dunlop says five have since been allowed to return home.
She says residents from another community are preparing to return in the coming days.
“Approximately 2,014 people remain evacuated to host communities across the province,” says Dunlop.
“I want to thank those host communities for raising their hand and welcoming evacuees to ensure they have the essentials that they need.”
There are still more than 110 active fires in northwestern Ontario.
There were three new fires reported on Wednesday, all small in size.
The blazes were located approximately 7 kilometres west of Highway 599 between Paguchi Lake and Victory Lake, near the north shore of Clytie Bay in Shoal Lake and in Lac Seul First Nation, between English River and Upper Grassy Bay.
Cool, wet weather is helping Ministry of Natural Resources wildland firefighters get the upper hand with suppression efforts.
Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris says over 80 have been extinguished in the last two weeks.
“There has been minimal growth on some of the more challenging fires in the northwest, like the largest fire that we’ve seen, which is Thunder Bay 36,” says Harris.
“The crews have made progress in constructing fire guards and doing values protection on this fire, like setting up sprinkler systems. In the Atikokan cluster near Quetico Park, we’re making good progress in containing those fires as well.”
Ontario continues to receive help from other provinces.
Prince Edward Island deployed ten firefighters, while Newfoundland/Labrador provided two support staff.
Alberta sent five more wildland fire specialists, increasing the support it previously committed.
New Brunswick also shipped 75 pumps for use along the fire lines.
Ontario now has 259 firefighters and 36 support personnel from outside the province working alongside MNR Fire Rangers, including 104 Mexican firefighters and support staff that arrived this week.
“One hundred and fifty-six Ontario fire crews are on the ground supported by over 140 aircraft, including 85 suppression helicopters and water bombers across the province of Ontario,” adds Harris.
Four waterbombers, five helicopters and three support aircraft from other provinces are also being utilized.
