Spring is here, the weather is getting warmer and warmer and the summer season is just around the corner. Many ranchers and farmers in the Estevan area start cleaning up their yards and fields, and a lot of the debris usually gets burned during this time of the year.
While there are currently no fire bans in the Estevan area, Fire Chief Dale Feser suggested a number of steps and precautions that should always be in place when residents are planning to burn anything.
“(People) are going to start to prepare their property, whether it be some controlled burns of some sloughs, dugouts or possibly burning off some crops still standing in the fields that they cannot get off and take them to market,” pointed out Feser.
“We just want to make sure that everybody is exercising extreme caution when they are doing this.”
It’s recommended to do burns in low wind conditions below 20 kilometres per hour. People also should take into consideration the wind direction, temperature routes and humidity.
“Keep reviewing our websites. The federal site is indicating that it’s extremely dry already and they are not indicating any moisture coming in the near future here,” said Feser.
Whenever anyone is conducting a controlled burn, they should ensure that there are enough people on site and sufficient water resources are on hand.
People should also call the controlled burn line at 1-866-404-4911 and report the details of the planned burn, including the location, time of burn, expected duration and contact information.
“That way we won’t have any unnecessary firetrucks show up at the location if it is a controlled burn,” said Feser. “But if it looks like it’s getting out of control, don’t hesitate to call 911.”
Fire departments are monitoring the situation, but they are also trying not to limit the farmers by putting fire bans on as producers have to get the land ready.
“We want to be sensitive to farming and ranching consumers and marketers out there because they do have to get some crop off there or burn the crop off to prepare the field for the next season of seeding. There is a little bit of a delicate balance here, as we are trying to go with a fairly aggressive public education campaign on this, so we can have everybody do this safely without any large fires occurring, any damage to property or injuries, or death out there.”
For updated information on fire bans go to https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/environment-public-health-and-safety/wildfire-in-saskatchewan/fire-bans.
