By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, July 17 (Reuters) – Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Friday said the province would buy 11 new aircraft to help counter fast-spreading wildfires and pushed back against U.S. politicians who have criticized the campaign as inadequate.
Heavy smoke from hundreds of Canadian fires enveloped a swathe of the U.S. from the Midwest to the Northeast on Thursday, prompting warnings to residents to stay indoors.
Ontario will spend C$650 million ($465 million) on five helicopters and six water bombers, Ford told a press conference, saying this was the largest such purchase in its history.
“We will not put a price on the safety of our communities,” he said, without giving details of when the planes would arrive.
Ontario has deployed 150 fire crews on the ground and more than 80 water bombers and helicopters.
So far, 650,000 acres (26,300 sq km) are on fire, compared to 600,000 acres at the same time last year.
Ford pushed back against Michigan Republicans who this week criticized Canada’s handling of the wildfires.
“… maybe what you should do rather than complain is send support, send help,” he said.
“Because we have done the exact same thing for our American friends, and that’s what you’re supposed to do.”
The United States is having an above-average fire year, with 3.7 million acres burned to date in 2026 compared with a 10-year average of 2.7 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The Ontario fires are concentrated in the remote and sparsely populated northwest of the province, where the only mode of transport is airplanes. Thousands of people have been evacuated and at least one community has burned to the ground.
“This is a very difficult situation, even to fly in to these communities on dirt runways when the fire is going,” said Ford.
As of Friday morning, 191 wild land fires were active in Ontario “and those numbers are changing rapidly,” Ford said, noting that 81 were considered not under control, 88 were being observed, 11 were being held, and 11 were under control.
($1 = 1.4012 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Deepa Babington and Kevin Liffey)
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