BURST
A rash of brush, grass and woods fires on Thursday highlights the need for people to be aware of how quickly things can dry out this time of year, says the Department of Natural Resources.
About three dozen fires were reported across the province Thursday, most in the few hours after 2 p.m.
None of them were overly significant but there is always the potential, said Scott Tingley, DNR’s manager of forest protection.
He said most of the calls were handled by volunteer fire departments, but DNR staff went to four or five .
Grass fires are not calls that DNR attends unless they spread to woodland.
The fires burned surface materials like dead grass, leaves and needles from softwood trees, but not much else, Tingley said.
“The conditions are starting to dry out, it will start in the grass and finer fuels, but even the fires that did spread into wooded areas are still just burning the fuels on the ground and not getting into the trees,” he said.
The forests are still wet so there is a low risk of forest fire right now, but “things are certainly starting to head into spring conditions.”
That means that even if the provincial burning regulations are showing that its OK to burn, people need to be aware and be cautious.
“They’re still responsible for the fires they light,” Tingley said.
As the month progresses there will likely be days that the restrictions remain in effect until 7 p.m., he said.
“This is the time of year we start to see the temperatures getting into the mid- to high-teens and the mornings are cooler. Those are the days we really watch for, that’s when there is typically very dry air in the afternoon that vis ery favourable for fires that start to spread.”
While the province sets fire restrictions as far as time of day and other conditions, municipalities set their own burning bylaws that include such things as bans on burning leaves and grass, distance and fire has to be from a structure or property line, and so on. The department says all regulations and bylaws have to be followed.
People burning are also required to have the means at hand to control the fire, must not leave it unattended, and must have it fully extinguished before leaving it. Some require any burning to take place in a non-combustible fire pit.