Ontario is asking other provinces to send more firefighters to help battle nearly 150 fires that are raging in its north, including a huge blaze near Thunder Bay and another that forced 100 people to flee a campground near Timmins.

The provincial Ministry of Natural Resources said 63 new fires erupted in the north between Monday and Tuesday, bumping the total that fire crews are battling to 147.

More than 1,300 firefighters from Ontario have been called up for duty. Another 270 are on loan from the Northwest Territories, Yukon and the four western provinces.

Near Thunder Bay, Ontario.

But Bob Thomas, a fire information officer for Natural Resources, said another 200 bodies are needed to keep up with fires.

Most of the blazes were caused by lightning strikes after weeks of unusually hot, dry weather that left forests as dry as tinder.

"It's just been a wacky year as far as weather goes," Thomas said Tuesday. "We just came through a five-day period where we had 150,000 recorded lightning strikes."

The province is spending $1.8 million per day to battle the fires and Thomas said he expected more funding would be needed.

"We probably spent in excess of $78 million so far," he said.

Biggest fire blazing out of control near Thunder Bay

The biggest fire, called Thunder Bay 57, is burning out of control on 5,000 hectares about 100 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

Helicopters and water bombers were on the scene near Armistice Lake.

A seven-hectare fire near Timmins forced officials to order about 100 people to leave a campground late Monday. The fire is raging close to the Big Water campground, said fire officials.

No campfire ban from province

Despite the dry forests, the province doesn't have any plans to reinstate a restricted fire zone in campgrounds.

Campers in Northern Ontario were banned from having campfires between July 13 and Aug. 5.

That decision stemmed from the fact the current crop of fires has been caused by Mother Nature, not people.

"We know what it's like to be out camping and not being able to have a campfire," said Thomas. "We decided that human-caused fires weren't a problem, so we decided to lift the ban."

Some municipalities, including Elliot Lake and Sudbury, have issued their own fire bans.