Iroquois Falls fire chief Dan Boucher wants to make it clear before the weekend: outdoor fires of any kind are still banned.
Part of the rationale behind the ban is to keep firefighters safe from COVID-19, because physical distancing is not easy when you’re fighting a fire.
Chief Boucher says if you can’t light one, the risk is eliminated.
“Believe it or not, we respond to about 20 incidences a year, because of campfires,” he states. “Most of them are complaints. Some of them are people that are adhering to the rules. We had one already (this year), and we’re in a ban.”
After speaking with provincial forest fire officials, Boucher says he highly doubts the ban will be lifted anytime soon. That’s because they expect a long, dry season.
“Once this snow goes, it’s going to be very, very dry and because of the way the runoff’s going, we’re probably going to see a long restriction.”
With files from Darcy Cybolsky, The Enterprise