All outdoor fires are now banned in Alberta, St. Albert, Sturgeon County, and Morinville.
Shannon Phillips and Oneil Carlier, Alberta’s environment and agriculture ministers, issued a complete ban on all outdoor fires in Alberta Thursday afternoon.
“Albertans stand with the people of Fort McMurray who have been evacuated and our first responders as they work to protect Albertans and critical infrastructure,” Phillips said in a press release.
“The single best thing we all can do to help protect Alberta from wildfires is to ensure we are not creating additional risk.”
The ban applies to the Forest Protection Area (basically the west and north half of the province) and all counties, municipal districts, and special areas such as parks and recreation areas, but not to cities, towns, villages, summer villages, or federal parks. It also does not apply to portable gas or propane-powered barbecues.
The last time the province brought in such a sweeping ban was 2011, reports Alberta Agriculture spokesperson Mike Long – the year of the Slave Lake fire.
St. Albert and Morinville issued complete fire bans earlier on Thursday. Sturgeon County followed suit on Friday.
The ban means that all fire permits are suspended and that no open fires will be allowed in St. Albert until further notice, said city fire investigator Les Mroz. The only exceptions are fires in liquid- or gas-fuelled barbecues or fires in approved industrial facilities.
The same restrictions also apply to Morinville and Sturgeon County.
Anyone who otherwise starts a fire in St. Albert during this ban could be fined up to $10,000.
The bans come in the wake of the extremely dry conditions, high winds, and high temperatures that have contributed to the massive wildfire that led to this week’s evacuation of Fort McMurray.
The province reported Thursday that there were 49 wildfires burning in the province, seven of which were out of control.
St. Albert doesn’t have the thick forests of Fort McMurray, and is surrounded by what are currently cultivated fields, Mroz said. That makes a major blaze like the one up north unlikely here. Big Lake was our biggest fire hazard, but it is starting to green up.
This ban is more of a precaution given field conditions and the sizeable fire in neighbouring Lac Ste. Anne County, said Morinville fire chief Brad Boddez.
Mroz urged residents to have a 72-hour emergency kit on hand at times like this.
“We always think that it’s never going to happen to me,” he said, but just like the Slave Lake fire of 2011, disasters happen.
“Just think of the people departing from Fort McMurray without even basic amenities.”
The Alberta Emergency Management Agency recommends that an emergency kit contain, amongst other items, three days of non-perishable food and four litres of water per person, a change of clothes, a hand-cranked radio, medication (including prescription medication), and copies of legal documents such as passports.
Mroz asked ATV drivers to use extreme caution, as hot debris and sparks from them could easily start fires in grassy areas. Drivers should avoid forested areas, make frequent spot checks for fires, and carry water with them to extinguish any blazes.
All off-highway vehicles must by law have a muffler and spark arrestor while in operation.
