Ontario 34 Crews Short as Canada Imports Firefighters Again

34 crews. That is how many fire crews Ontario does not have in a year when it needs every one of them. The province is authorized to operate with 190 crews, but its firefighter union says staffing shortages have left 34 of those crews empty, even as record wildfires rage across the north. ²

To feel the scale, shrink it to the fire line. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, known as OPSEU/SEFPO, warned crews were operating at just 61 per cent of the capacity needed to fight nearly 200 active wildfires in the province, a shortfall that turns routine rotations into grinding endurance shifts and raises direct fears for worker safety. ⁵

This is not a one-week spike. As of Aug. 10, 2026, Canada had more than 600 active wildfires covering more than four million hectares, a national footprint that leaves no spare province to lend out. ⁹ Public Safety Canada’s Aug. 18 update counted 582 active wildfires, including 31 listed as out of control, with 4,793 fires and 4.1 million hectares burned season-to-date, compared with 7.7 million hectares burned by a similar point in 2025. ¹¹

In Northern Ontario, the shortage stopped being a staffing chart and became an evacuation. Wildfires forced First Nations communities to flee, the sharpest reminder that crew numbers decide how long a community can wait for help to arrive. ⁷ The union publicly blasted the Ford government for what it called “mismanagement” of forest firefighting efforts, with OPSEU Local 703 vice-president Noah Freedman featured as a voice for front-line crews. ¹⁰

The complaint is older than this summer’s smoke. Reports cite long-standing retention and pay issues among Ontario forest firefighters, a cycle in which experienced seasonal crews leave for steadier and better-paid work and do not return the next spring. ⁶ Ontario’s NDP leader put it in political terms that many in fire country would recognize, saying the government is unprepared for a threat that no longer surprises anyone. ⁴

Premier Doug Ford’s government says it has increased resources for wildfire response, a position that sits uneasily beside the union’s account of crews stretched past safe limits. ² That disagreement is the core of Ontario’s story: the province says it is adding, the people holding the hose say they are still 34 crews short, and the fires do not pause for the audit. ²

When domestic capacity cannot meet demand, Canada borrows. More than 200 foreign firefighters from Mexico, New Zealand and Australia were headed to British Columbia as wildfires threatened several communities, in reports dated August 5-7, 2026. ³ The movement corroborates what fire managers now treat as routine, that Canada opens each severe season knowing international crews will be needed somewhere. ³

The criticism of that routine is growing louder. A Globe and Mail opinion piece by Tanya Talaga, published Aug. 6, argues Canada “is not working together” to confront the wildfire crisis, calling this one of the worst seasons in Canadian history. ⁸ Former federal minister James Moore separately argues for a national wildfire strategy, a call that reflects frustration that seasonal federal updates have not hardened into a permanent plan. ⁹ These are opinion columns, not proof of any particular structural fix, but they capture the political mood around coordination. ^{8 9}

What can be said plainly is that the current arrangement pushes risk downward. Provinces carry the hiring, retention and deployment burden, Ottawa issues situation updates, and when the math fails, foreign crews fill the gap and evacuated First Nations wait to learn when home is safe again. ^{11 3 7} That is a system that works until the season that does not end, and Canada is living through more of those seasons in a row. ⁹