(File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Grass Fires

Grass fire danger grows in northeast after snow melt

Apr 30, 2020 | 5:00 PM

The conditions are ideal for the start of grass fires in the province.

The snow has melted, but the grass in ditches remains very dry.

Melfort Fire Chief Shaun Stewart told northeastNOW grass and brush fires can get out of hand very quickly. He said the wind picks up in the morning but generally dies down around noon, and that’s when people usually attempt a controlled burn.

“About 2, 2:30 in the afternoon is when the wind picks up again, and then [the controlled fire] is gone, and they can’t catch up to it and that’s when they end up paging the fire department,” Stewart said. He added most of the recent grass fires in the Saskatoon area have started between 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Stewart also noted it doesn’t take much of a wind for a fire to spread, and with the grass being so dry it is important to be prepared if you’re starting a controlled fire.

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“You have to have water in place or you have to have some cultivating done to create a fire break just in case it does get out of hand,” Stewart said.

He said the grass is ‘tinder dry’ and it doesn’t take much for a fire to start, so flicking your cigarette out the window of your vehicle is not advised.

“A lot of [grass fires] you can trace back to a single point where it did start, and you can normally find a little bit of a cigarette left, or something discarded out of a window for sure,” Stewart said.

If a fire gets away from you, Stewart said you won’t catch up to it. Instead, call the fire department as soon as possible, and they will help get the blaze under control.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974