{"id":107043,"date":"2026-07-20T15:48:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107043"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:48:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:48:29","slug":"around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\/","title":{"rendered":"Around 1,800 people have fled wildfires as Ontario weighs further evacuations: Ford"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jordan Omstead Around 1,800 people have fled their communities due to wildfires raging across northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said Monday, as officials consider further evacuations. Fires have destroyed communities, prompted numerous evacuation orders and filled the skies across Ontario and beyond with noxious smoke. Evacuees have fanned out to host cities across the province, including Thunder Bay, Toronto, Sudbury and Niagara Falls. &#8220;Thirteen communities have been evacuated or are in the process of evacuating, with the decision still pending on one additional community,&#8221; Ford said. At least 500 people were sheltering in Thunder Bay over the weekend, which city officials described as a conservative estimate. The fire chief said most evacuees were hosted by First Nation organizations or found available hotel space themselves. Inside a Thunder Bay arena&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F20%2Faround-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jordan Omstead Around 1,800 people have fled their communities due to wildfires raging across northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said Monday, as officials consider further evacuations. Fires have destroyed communities, prompted numerous evacuation orders and filled the skies across Ontario and beyond with noxious smoke. Evacuees have fanned out to host cities across the province, including Thunder Bay, Toronto, Sudbury and Niagara Falls. &#8220;Thirteen communities have been evacuated or are in the process of evacuating, with the decision still pending on one additional community,&#8221; Ford said. At least 500 people were sheltering in Thunder Bay over the weekend, which city officials described as a conservative estimate. The fire chief said most evacuees were hosted by First Nation organizations or found available hotel space themselves. Inside a Thunder Bay arena... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F20%2Faround-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Around 1,800 people have fled wildfires as Ontario weighs further evacuations: Ford - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Around 1,800 people have fled wildfires as Ontario weighs further evacuations: Ford - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jordan Omstead Around 1,800 people have fled their communities due to wildfires raging across northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said Monday, as officials consider further evacuations. Fires have destroyed communities, prompted numerous evacuation orders and filled the skies across Ontario and beyond with noxious smoke. Evacuees have fanned out to host cities across the province, including Thunder Bay, Toronto, Sudbury and Niagara Falls. &#8220;Thirteen communities have been evacuated or are in the process of evacuating, with the decision still pending on one additional community,&#8221; Ford said. At least 500 people were sheltering in Thunder Bay over the weekend, which city officials described as a conservative estimate. The fire chief said most evacuees were hosted by First Nation organizations or found available hotel space themselves. Inside a Thunder Bay arena\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T19:48:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Around 1,800 people have fled wildfires as Ontario weighs further evacuations: Ford\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T19:48:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":560,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/around-1800-people-have-fled-wildfires-as-ontario-weighs-further-evacuations-ford\\\/\",\"name\":\"Around 1,800 people have fled wildfires as Ontario weighs further evacuations: Ford - 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