Fire bugs found guilty of causing wildfires could face stiffer penalties under revamped provincial legislation aimed at preventing blazes from getting out of control. Rural area municipal leaders said the proposed amendments announced on Monday to Ontario’s Forest Fires Prevention Act “send a clear message.”
“Protecting our forests and reducing human-caused fires is a shared responsibility that requires strong action and commitment from everyone,” Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association president Wendy Landry, who is Shuniah’s mayor, said in a provincial news release.
If the amendments are passed, they would fall under the province’s proposed Resource Management and Safety Act, which would also “allow the (province) to take immediate action to address hazardous oil and gas wells that pose a public safety risk.”
Provincial officials say that the majority of wildfires are ignited as a result of human carelessness, though lightning is also a major cause at certain times of the year. The Forest Fires Prevention Act hasn’t received a “significant” upgrade in 25 years, the province noted in its news release.
Under the proposed amendments, there would be “new requirements for wildland fire management plans, and stricter penalties for those who don’t follow wildland fire laws, to reduce the risk of unwanted human-caused fires,” the news release said.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, two Cochrane-area men were each fined $1,100 after they lit up a grass fire this spring at a rural home that had to be extinguished by provincial fire rangers.
“Conservation officers investigated the cause of the fire and determined that both (men) were responsible for starting it,” the ministry said.
The pair later pleaded guilty to burning grass without a permit under the act.
Nolalu fire Chief Sarah Shoemaker said earlier this fall she has frequently given warnings to area residents about illegal burning.
Provincial conservation officers, “have laid several (charges) in our area over the years,” Shoemaker said.
In Monday’s news release, MPP Kevin Holland (Thunder Bay-Atikokan) noted that good forest management practices also play “an important role in reducing the risk of wildland fire.”
