Dozens of forest fires are raging across northwestern Ontario on Sunday fuelled by hot and dry conditions and prompting evacuation warnings.

There are at least 86 active fires in the province between Thunder Bay and Manitoba, mostly spurred by lightning strikes, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Some First Nations communities have already been evacuated due to heavy smoke and more people may still need to be relocated if the air quality doesn't improve.

Residents from the Keewaywin First Nation are starting to leave on Sunday for the town of Greenstone as the province plans to move almost 200 people out of the community.

More than 100 residents from Cat Lake, about 180 kilometres north of Sioux Lookout, were evacuated to Matachewan on Friday due to air quality concerns and power outages.

With little rain predicted in the region for the next few days, the Ministry of Natural Resources said it expects more wildfires to rage into next week.

"Unfortunately, it's not looking like there's much relief," Deb MacLean, a spokesperson for the Northwest Regional Forest Fire Centre in Dryden, Ont. told CTV News Channel on Saturday.

"We have a little bit of rain forecasted for the southern portion of our region but that's not where our problem is."

More than 2,000 Ontario firefighters and support crew workers are on the ground, and approximately 360 firefighters have been sent from British Columbia as support.

There is more than 40 aircraft involved in trying to douse the flames, including 14 waterbombers, some from Quebec and Alberta, and 13 initial attack helicopters.

Smoke from the wildfires could be seen in the sky across most of northern Ontario on Sunday.

There have been a total of 474 forest fires to date this season, according to the Ministry and more than 145,000 hectares of forest have burned to date.

Ontario has already seen over twice the average amount of hectares burned annually in the province.

The Ministry put a Restricted Fire Zone in effect for the region, which means all burning permits are suspended and open fires are prohibited, to reduce the risk of human-caused wildfires.

With files from The Canadian Press