Ontario confirms it has hired about 600 forest firefighters this year, although it has the budget to hire up to 800 people. The recruitment number is “well within the range” the province aims for, according to Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Graydon Smith. “We spent a significant amount of money, time and effort this year to recruit and retain more people and I think those efforts are paying off,” he said. Earlier in March the province rolled out an incentive program promising lump-sum payments to wildland firefighters. …Smith says “crews are deployed across Ontario as provincial resources during the fire season to where they are needed.” In other words, if a fire breaks out in the Greenstone area and there aren’t enough available crews to tackle it, resources will be sent in from other bases.