Ontario firefighters help to extinguish Canadian forest infernos
As forest fires continue to rage across Canada, Ontario firefighters are lending a hand.
Right now there are more than 200 Ontario fire rangers fighting fires outside of the province. The majority of them are working in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
Sudbury based fire ranger Jeff Cheng just returned from fighting a fire near High Level in northern Alberta. He said crews from across Ontario are banding together to help control the fires.
"Usually in Ontario we work in a four man crew, but out in High Level they took five of us together so we worked as a 20-pack," he said.
"The longer we stayed there, there was just so much sunshine and so much wind that it just kept getting hotter ... there was just smoke everywhere."
Last week, about 200 people were evacuated from Tall Cree First Nation, about 160 kilometers north of High Level.
In Saskatchewan, 13,000 people were evacuated from their homes — the largest number ever for the province.
There are dozens of forest fires currently burning in northwestern Ontario. There are currently 9 in the northeast, including one north of Sudbury. All are listed as under control.