Saskatoon Fire Department talks safety around dry conditions, controlled burns

The Saskatoon Fire Department is reminding the public to take precautions when burning fields after a controlled burn near the city turned into a 200-hectare grassfire on Tuesday, April 9.

Rob Hogan, deputy chief of communications with the Saskatoon Fire Department, said it wasn’t an easy fire to control.

“The incident just kept growing across the road and kept getting into areas we had trouble getting into and into different brushes,” Hogan said on Wednesday.

He said fire crews didn’t get out of the area until late in the evening Tuesday and had to return Wednesday morning to spread out and extinguish some bales to which the fire had spread.

The Saskatoon Fire Department said these types of fires aren’t traditionally investigated by the department.

“I haven’t talked to the initial caller,” Hogan said.

He said very dry conditions, marsh areas and stubble fields are often the cause of an uncontrolled burn getting out of hand.

“We can’t go around those,” Hogan said, saying their equipment will often get stuck.

“We did get stuck a number of times yesterday so that impedes our ability to extinguish the fire.”

Several areas of the province currently have bans placed on controlled burns to prevent the risk of the flames becoming unmanageable.

Richard Levesque, CEO for the RM of Meadow Lake said there is currently a fire ban imposed for his area after the winter brought little moisture to the northern areas of Saskatchewan.

“We had one major snow storm and all of that snow has basically disappeared already,” Levesque said.

The RM was forced to put the ban in place earlier than most years this spring because of the quick snow melt.

“This time of year is especially bad because you don’t have any type of vegetation growing yet so all the grass and bush is all dry and you can’t bring waterbombers because the lakes are dry.”

Levesque said the area saw a grassfire on March 28 that luckily didn’t spread to any structures thanks to low winds but added they sometimes they aren’t as easy to control.

“Just be careful,” he reminded residents. “Don’t start any fires, don’t use a burning barrel, don’t discard your cigarettes in the ditch when you are driving down the road because something could start and then there will be a problem.”

Levesque said those who start fires could be subject to fines up to $5000 under the wildfire act.

“It’s not something that should be taken lightly as far as risk goes.”

Hogan said if an area isn’t subject to a fire ban and a controlled burn will be started, there are safety steps that should be followed.

“Wet down the area to control the burn, till the area that’s around the outside of the controlled burn,” he said.

He added that until Corman Park implements a fire ban, burners should be extra cautious and monitor wind levels.

“It’s up to the individual owner to make those determinations and take the precautions to prevent the fire from getting out of control.”

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