Fire Hazard-
From April 26 to 28 only one fire was reported. Kenora District Fire 1 was a small 0.1ha, human-caused grass fire at Grassy Narrows First Nation community and it was extinguished by the Grassy Narrows Fire Department.
On the afternoon of April 29, Dryden Fire Management Headquarters dispatched a FireRanger crew to another railway fire east of Vermillion Bay. This will be Dryden District Fire number 2 and the third fire for the Northwest Region this year.
Seasonable spring weather over the weekend certainly helped to weaken the snow pack especially along highways and railway tracks which are now an area of concern for new fire starts. Many water bodies and wetlands remain frozen and inaccessible to aircraft or FireRanger crews to draw water from.
Over the next 24 hours we can expect accumulating snowfall in the Far North and across the southern districts sunny skies will give way to cloudy conditions and the possibility of rain.
Spring is the time of year where residents want to get outside and clean up their properties from the effects of winter. Every year, residents burning grass or debris ignite wildfires. In the spring, cured grass dries quickly, ignites easily and can spread out of control quickly. These fires cause property damage and cost money to extinguish. If you light it, you are responsible for it. This means if you light a fire and that fire turns into a wildfire you can be held responsible for the associated costs of putting that fire out. This can range in to the thousands of dollars. Instead of burning, you can mow and compost grass, and chip and compost brush or us it as mulch. But if you must burn, don’t burn when it is windy, light your fire two hours before sunset or later, burn a safe distance from anything that could catch fire, and always keep your fire small and stay with it until it is dead out.
To report forest fires call 310-FIRE (3473)
Forest Fire Danger Map