Ontario to buy new 11 new aircraft for 'very difficult' wildfire fight

OTTAWA, July 17 (Reuters) - The province of Ontario will spend C$650 million ($465 million) on five new helicopters and six new water bombers to help fight fast-spreading wildfires, Premier Doug Ford

OTTAWA, July 17 (Reuters) - The province of Ontario will spend C$650 million ($465 million) on five new helicopters and six new water bombers to help fight fast-spreading wildfires, Premier Doug Ford told a press conference on Friday. Heavy smoke from hundreds of Canadian fires enveloped a swathe of the U.S. from the Midwest to the Northeast on Thursday, prompting warnings from officials that residents should stay indoors wherever possible.

Ford did not say when the planes would arrive. "We will not put a price on the safety of our communities ... we will spare no expense," he said. So far, Ontario has deployed 150 fire crews on the ground and more than 80 water bombers and helicopters.

The fires are concentrated in the remote and sparsely populated northwest region of the province, where the only mode of transport is air. "This is a very difficult situation, even to fly in to these communities on dirt runways when the fire is going," said Ford. So far 650,000 acres (26,300 square km) are on fire, compared to 600,000 acres at the same time last year.

($1 = 1.4012 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Deepa Babington)