Jeremy Rouse is an elected union representative for employees of Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources. He serves as the OPSEU/SEFPO Chair for the Ministry Employee Relations Committee (MERC).
I would never blame the Ford government for lightning, drought, wind, or the fires burning across Northern Ontario. But I will hold this government responsible for the condition of the provincial fire program sent to respond to them.
For years, the fire, aviation, and support staff I am elected to represent have warned that Ontario’s wildland fire program is stretched beyond what it can safely sustain.
To give one telling example: the government says Ontario currently has approximately 156 firefighting crews. That is far below the approved allocation of 190 initial attack crews – and nowhere near the 250 crews experienced fire staff believe Ontario needs for today’s increasingly severe fire seasons.
That assessment comes from workers who understand Northern Ontario’s geography, long travel distances, simultaneous fires, crew rotation, fatigue, and the importance of reaching fires early. Initial attack matters because small fires are the ones we can still contain.
No honest person can claim that one additional crew, or even 50, would have guaranteed a different outcome on every fire. Fire is dynamic and dangerous. But additional crews do more than improve initial attack. They also provide the capacity to keep resources on fires after they are brought under control, complete the necessary mop-up and monitoring, and ensure they are fully extinguished before crews are reassigned.
When resources are stretched, managers may be forced to choose between holding crews on existing fires and responding to new ones. Greater capacity reduces the need for those difficult choices.
We have witnessed communities being evacuated, homes destroyed, and First Nations forced from ancestral lands, often with little time and few transportation options.
Premier Doug Ford says his government will spare no expense to protect communities from wildfires. But spending money after an emergency is not the same as preparing for one.
Ontario’s 2026 budget provides about $150 million for emergency forest firefighting. This is after actual spending reached approximately $171 million in 2024 and $271 million in 2025. An unrealistic baseline for funding undermines planning, contracting, pre-positioning, staffing, retention, training, and logistics before the first major fire begins.
The government also points to 68 new permanent positions this year. That is a positive step, but only 20 are frontline crew-leader positions. The rest are spread across roles in fire management, aviation, dispatch, logistics, technology, training and administration. Those workers are absolutely critical. But these 68 positions do not equal 68 firefighters, much less 68 new crews.
A filled position is also not the same as operational experience. High turnover has left workers taking on demanding roles without enough time, mentorship, or preparation.
While these employees are praised publicly, many have had to fight privately for basic job security, appropriate wages, and recognition of the work they perform. Support staff are still too often treated as secondary, even though fire operations depend on them every day.
Aircraft numbers require the same honesty. Ontario owns 28 specialized aircraft, including nine waterbombers. Larger totals cited publicly include contracted and mutual-aid aircraft performing very different functions. A waterbomber, helicopter, birddog aircraft, and transport plane are not interchangeable. The public deserves to know what is owned, contracted, borrowed, and actually operational. Recently purchased aircraft promised for the early 2030s will not protect a community facing evacuation today.
Fire, aviation and support staff continue to do everything they can to protect people and communities. Unfortunately, the government has failed to provide the transparent planning, stable funding, staffing and operational capacity the program requires.
This is not simply about adding more crews or more people. It is about rebuilding and sustaining the entire wildland fire management program, retaining experienced employees, supporting professional development, providing meaningful work, and restoring a workplace in which skilled people want to remain.
We know the cost of replacing a house. What we cannot put a price on is the loss of a home, a community, traditional territories, or the fear of leaving everything behind in the middle of the night.
Fire seasons have changed. The fire program must change with them. Ontario cannot continue operating its wildland fire program in a permanent state of emergency.