Ontario's lifted a ban on open air burning in place for more than a month.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says the Restricted Fire Zone that was in place for the entire fire region of Ontario - which includes most of the province, including the entire North - was lifted at 4 o'clock Tuesday afternoon - it was initially implemented for much of the province on June 1st, and expanded days later, amid hot and dry conditions and a number of forest fires, which was straining provincial resources and contributing to smoke that caused air quality issues for much of the country.
While it has lifted the RFZ, the Ministry urges Ontarians and visitors to "continue to use extreme caution and follow Ontario's Outdoor Fires Regulations when having an outdoor fire", emphasizing that lifting the restrictions "does not mean we can let our guard down when it comes to preventing human-caused fires".
Locally, the Municipality of Wawa and Township of Chapleau have both announced an end to their bans on open air burning, which had suspended burning permits - Wawa's ban stemmed from the RFZ, while Chapleau's was implemented days before, due to the hot and humid conditions, as a small forest fire was burning just outside the community - both communities remind permits are required and applications will now be considered.
Only one new fire was reported across the North on Tuesday - southeast of Dryden - and it was called out, leaving a total of 83 "active" across the North - 31 in the Northeast, 52 in the Northwest - while the fire hazard ranges from low to high for much of the North.