Ministry of Natural Resources firefighters only have had to respond to a pair of grass fires in the Fort Frances District since the fire season officially began April 1.
“Well, so far things have been very quiet,” said Larry Brant, sector response leader at the Fort Frances fire headquarters. “It hasn’t been dry enough long enough to make the fuels receptive.
“As far as around here goes, the weather has been co-operating,” he noted. “But of course, we can’t predict the weather. It could be a whole different situation a few weeks from now.”
As of Monday, the fire hazard was “low” here, as well as across the entire West Fire Region, which also includes areas such as Dryden, Kenora, Sioux Lookout, and Red Lake.
But the downtime has given fire crews time to prepare for the season ahead, whether it’s here in Northwestern Ontario forests or elsewhere, such as when some local crews went to Montana to battle blazes last year.
“Training is the name of the game right now,” said Brant, adding that as of this week, a full complement of 12 four-person crews have been hired for the season.
In related news, the Fort Frances Fire Department hasn’t been too busy with grass fires here after igniting some prescribed burns about two weeks ago.
The most recent among a handful of responses was to a small field fire between Williams Avenue and Patcin Avenue on Sunday afternoon. Firefighters were on the scene for about half-an-hour.
“With the weather being as it is, things are getting pretty green. We don’t anticipate much more activity this season,” firefighter Greg Allan said.
“The grass fire season’s been pretty quiet. I guess the message got out there,” he added, referring to the fire department’s urging of local residents to get permits and contact the fire hall before and after any burning.
Prescribed burn sites included parts of the industrial park, and areas in the west end of town like Flinders Place and Lyndy Place.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
