BC Wildfire Service air tankers have crossed the border to help combat the Wannacut fire in Washington. In a social media post, BCWS said it was aware of the wildfire approximately 18 kilometres south of Osoyoos, on the south side of the US-Canada border. “At this time, we are supporting with air tanker resources and are in communication with our partners in the U.S.,” BCWS said. BCWS told Castanet one birddog and two air tankers have been deployed to combat the blaze. Winds appear to be pushing smoke from the wildfire north and BCWS said it will be highly visible to communities in the south Okanagan. The Town of Osoyoos and the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen Emergency Operations Centre said it is aware of the wildfire and no action is required at this time.
Dozens of firefighters from British Columbia arrived in Manitoba over the weekend to help local first responders battle an out-of-control wildfire in northern Manitoba. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Friday he put out a call to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) for help from other jurisdictions to fight the flames. British Columbia responded, sending 42 firefighters. “I’m just happy to say that B.C. has answered the call. We’re there for other provinces. I know they’ll be there for us,” Kinew said at a news conference Friday. According to Manitoba’s fire map, a 20,000-hectare fire west of The Pas was still burning out of control as of Monday morning. It broke out over a week ago, engulfing 100 hectares, with heavy winds and little moisture causing it to more than quadruple in size in 24 hours.
Wildfire crews from British Columbia are expected to join first responders in Manitoba on Monday to help them battle the largest out-of-control blaze in the province at the moment. “We are at the place right now and, and in this season with current conditions and activity on the landscape that we can provide these couple of unit crews,” B.C. Wildfire Service spokesperson Erika Berg told CBC News on Sunday. The fire — one of two blazes north of The Pas, a town more than 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg … grew from 100 hectares to 6,600 within four days. Premier Wab Kinew first announced the deployment of B.C. crews in Manitoba on Friday at an unrelated news conference where he thanked the province for its support. 
MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY, Alberta – Provincial officials elevated the wildfire danger rating to extreme across the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area Saturday after five new wildfires ignited in the area in recent days. Parts of Mountain View County are included in the forest area, namely west of Sundre and Bergen, covering Coal Camp and Bearberry west of Range Road 60 from Township Road 312 to the north boundary of the county. “The wildfire danger is now extreme in the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area,” the province said in its May 3 update for the forest protection area. “Dead and dry vegetation continues to be a major concern, as it is highly flammable and provides an easily available fuel source for wildfires.” …On Thursday, two wildfires were discovered in the Rocky Mountain House Forest Area while three more were discovered on Friday.
Firefighters from Fort St. John and the B.C. Wildfire Service were battling a blaze that prompted evacuations late Thursday, the city said. The fire is in the Fish Creek Community Forest on the northern outskirts of the city. …The wildfire service website indicates the out-of-control blaze was discovered Thursday and spanned an estimated 0.56 square kilometres — about four times the size of Granville Island in Vancouver — as of 7:32 p.m. The suspected cause of the fire is human activity. The fire is one of nearly two dozen active across BC on Thursday, as the provincial government warned that a combination of warm, dry conditions and strong winds would raise the fire risk in southern parts of B.C. It’s one of two blazes classified as burning out of control, the other being a 1.85-square-kilometre blaze that began as two separate fires about 30 kilometres southwest of Dawson Creek, which is south of Fort St. John.
Favourable winds and provincial firefighting efforts have led to the cancellation of a stage one evacuation for Wabaseemoong Independent Nations as a large forest fire burns nearby. The fire, known as Kenora 14, was discovered on Thursday 12 kilometres from Wabaseemoong. It has since grown to more than 1,000 hectares in size, and is not under control. “We had another update meeting (Sunday) morning, and it looked promising that we won’t have to do any evacuation,” said Waylon Scott, chief of Wabaseemoong. “We were at the midst of doing a stage one evacuation, which is basically the vulnerable population.” Scott said the evacuation has now been put on hold. Chris Marchand, fire information officer with Ontario’s Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES), said southerly winds have kept the fire from advancing any closer to Wabaseemoong, and helped keep smoke out of the community.
KENORA — The largest wildfire of the season in Northwestern Ontario has consumed 1,300 hectares of forest, but Ministry of Natural Resources crews have been aided by more favourable weather conditions. Heading into the weekend, there were concerns about the fire’s proximity to Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, as it was only 12 kilometres to the south and the fire was exhibiting some extreme behaviour. However, there was minimal growth on the fire’s perimeter on Saturday, and the wind changed direction, blowing from the south to direct fire activity and smoke away from the community. The MNR expects southerly winds will persist for a few days.
ATIKOKAN — A forest fire forced the closure of a section of Highway 11 in Northwestern Ontario. Ontario 511 reported the closure of both lanes of the highway at 5:27 pm EDT Monday. The road was blocked between Highway 623 at Sapawe and Highway 633 near Kawene. According to witnesses at the scene, Ministry of Natural Resources waterbombers were working steadily on the fire. The MNR estimated the fire had burned 180 hectares by 8:30 pm, and listed the outbreak as “not under control.”
Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency says it is sending reinforcements to Ontario and Saskatchewan to help teams fight several forest and brush fires. Two CL-415 firefighting aircraft and their crews will head to Dryden, Ont., while two other of the same aircraft will head to Meadow Lake, Sask. Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency, known as SOPFEU, says the teams departed Sunday from Quebec City. The agency says the current situation in Quebec allows for resources to head to other provinces. In Ontario, there were six active fires burning across the province shortly before noon Sunday, including one in Haliburton, located about 170 km north of Oshawa, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources’ interactive map. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Public Safety map showed there were 18 active wildfires burning Sunday, for a total of 142 fires since the season began on April 1. There were 19 active fires burning in Saskatchewan on Saturday.
Oregon firefighters arrived Sunday in North Carolina to assist in fighting wildfires that have burned thousands of acres in the western part of the state. The Oregon Department of Forestry sent 26 firefighters and two agency representatives for a two-week rotation in North Carolina. Many of the Oregon firefighters were assigned to the Black Cove Fire. The fire was first reported March 19. The Black Cove Fire in North Carolina’s Polk County has forced evacuations and is one of the largest in the western part of the state. Along with the Deep Woods Fire, burning in the Green River Gorge, a combined 4,621 acres were burning with 0% containment as of Sunday evening, according to the North Carolina Forest Service. …The firefighters were sent under a mutual assistance agreement between Oregon and North Carolina.
In Ocean County, the Jones Road Wildfire continues burning into its sixth day. Roads are now back open including Wells Mills Road. The command post sits at Wells Mills County Park. As of Sunday, over 15,000 acres have burned, and it is now 65% contained. Four structures were threatened as of Sunday. Evacuations have been 100% lifted for residents previously evacuated in Lacey and Ocean townships. Crews Sunday were working on hotspots and patrolling the fire perimeter.
A New Jersey teenager is being charged with arson following a
At least a half-dozen large wildfires continued to burn in the Blue Ridge Mountains of South Carolina and North Carolina on Thursday, leading to states of emergency and evacuations as firefighters deployed from other parts of the US to help bring the blazes under control. In North Carolina, progress was being made in containing two of the largest wildfires burning in the mountains, but officials warned that fire danger remained from dry and windy conditions. The news was worse in South Carolina, where two fires nearly doubled in size on Wednesday. Hundreds of people have been asked to leave their homes in the two states. Wednesday’s dry weather led to several new fires in western North Carolina and prompted the state’s governor, Josh Stein, to declare a state of emergency in 34 western counties. At least nine fires were active in that part of the state, officials said.
Israel asked Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy and Croatia to help extinguish major wildfires that broke out Wednesday morning in several locations near Jerusalem and along Highway 1 leading to the city as communities along the road were instructed to evacuate. At least one man suspected of involvement in igniting the fires was arrested, according to Israeli broadcaster Kan, which reported that the suspect is now detained at the Oz police station in east Jerusalem. Israel police did not confirm or give any details on what started the fires. …Foreign Minister Gideon Saar asked his counterparts in the four countries to send firefighting airplanes and helicopters to Israel, including supertankers. Ynet reported that Greece and Italy are sending supertankers and that the Palestinian Authority offered to send firefighters, though Israel has not yet responded to the offer. International aid is expected to arrive Thursday morning.
The scale of forest damage caused by recent wildfires in North Gyeongsang is nearly double the amount initially estimated by the Korea Forest Service, according to multiple local governments and authorities on Thursday. A joint investigation conducted by government agencies, including the Korea Forest Service, found that the wildfires that swept across five cities and counties in North Gyeongsang burned close to 90,000 hectares (222,395 acres) of forest. This is a significant increase from the 45,157 hectares that the Korea Forest Service previously announced as the affected area after fire suppression efforts concluded. The actual damage is twice the originally reported figure and nearly four times greater than the forest damage caused by the East Coast wildfires in 2000, which had been considered the worst in the country’s history until the recent disaster.
