Premier Doug Ford says Ontario ready to support California during ‘devastating’ fires

As deadly wildfires continue to tear through the Los Angeles area Thursday morning, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province is standing by to offer its support, calling the situation “devastating.”

“Ontario will always stand ready to serve. I’ve directed officials to send every available water bomber to fight these fires,” Ford said in a post on X.

Roughly 130,000 people have been told to evacuate their homes since the fires broke out earlier this week, with massive areas of land burning in the affluent neighbourhoods of Pacific Palisades and Hollywood Hills in the west and Altadena in the east.

Hurricane-level winds observed Tuesday propelled fires from one neighbourhood to another and fire hydrants in some areas went dry due to the surge in use to put out the flames. Officials say dry winds contributed to the spread of the fires in Southern California, an area which has only seen less than 2.4 millimetres of rain since May.

At least five people have died, and firefighters are working to get the remaining blazes under control. So far, the fires have already burned an area roughly the size of the city of San Francisco and the blaze in Pacific Palisades has been declared the most destructive in Los Angeles history.

Ford said the province will provide whatever personnel and equipment is needed and “spare no expense” to support the affected areas.

It’s unclear at this time what resources Ontario has sent or been asked to send to California.

So far, two Canadian-made CL-415 planes belonging to the Quebec government have been sent to California to provide support, as well as some helicopters belonging to B.C.-based Coulson Aviation.