The forest fire danger rating in parts of our region has been reduced overnight, thanks to sporadic rainfall.
Of the three fires south and southwest of Cochrane that sparked up yesterday, the small one along Highway 652 is at one tenth of a hectare in size and is being held. The one between Hwy. 11 and the railroad tracks is one hectare and not held; as is the largest of them at 80 hectares, southwest of Cochrane.
MNRF fire information officer Shayne McCool says the overnight rain might have been helpful in preventing them from spreading.
“We did see some minimal precipitation overnight in this area, but again, we’ll be monitoring the fire behaviour closely on those incidents and we’ll be utilizing air attack if the fire behaviour escalates as well.”
It’s also the rain that allowed the ministry to reduce the hazard rating in some areas, near Timmins, for example.
“But as you expand outwards,” McCool observes, “you’re starting to get back into the high to extreme hazard for the most part. So it just shows you the scattered nature of the precipitation that we saw overnight.”