Prescribed burning underway

Residents who have spotted smoke in the air over town for the past few days need not panic. It’s the Fort Frances Fire Department that’s been doing the burning.
“It’s spring, and with a lot of dry materials and dead grass around, the firefighters are doing prescribed, preventative maintenance burning,” Fort Frances Fire Chief Steve Richardson noted Tuesday morning.
“The reason we do that is if we go out and set the fires, we can control where they’re going and clean up a lot of areas,” he explained.
“What it does is prevent uncontrollable wildfires around some of the residential properties. It’s preventative maintenance,” he added.
Chief Richardson said firefighters started the prescribed burning on Saturday, first on property in the west end of town (such as near Flinders Place).
Then on Monday, firefighters were doing a prescribed burn in the east end of town, including the grassy area at the north end of Williams Avenue.
They were expected to be burning in the north end of town on Tuesday.