The number of wildfires across Ontario has been well below average in 2024. The province has seen just 257 fires between Jan. 1 and Aug. 5 of this year, well below the 10-year average for the same time period, which is 526 fires. Ontario saw 615 fires across the province during the same period in 2023. “The province of Ontario has seen a predominantly zonal flow through the first half of the fire season, typically with a few days of warm seasonal weather, followed by a few days of significant widespread precipitation, and so on and so forth,” said Isabelle Chenard, a communications and media relations specialist with the ministry. “This general trend has caused the fire hazard to rise and promptly fall regularly. Significant widespread rain events have kept forest fuels from drying out for extended periods of time, making the forest less likely to be impacted by lightning.”