County continues to battle wildfires

He says that CFB Suffield will continue to patrol the area though to make sure it doesn’t reignite.

On the other side of the county, Meyer says the fire in Walsh has been confined to a coulee and crews are there 24 hours a day.

“Currently we are dealing with some flare ups and some hot spots that are on the flanks. The fire is down in the root system so it’s popping up past the fireguards.” He explained. “We have Alberta Forestry, Saskatchewan Forestry assisting us down in the coulees chopping down trees, making fire breaks for us.”

He says that ranchers and farmers have been a huge help in the area as well.

With the extreme heat warning and no rain in the forecast, Meyer says there is a chance of it reigniting and putting properties in danger.

“The fine fuel moisture content of the grass, there’s nothing in it. So it’s very easily ignited. It just really makes things that much more tough when it comes to fighting fires.” Meyer continued. “Because when we get the wind driven fires, it’s not the fire that’s causing the ignitions ahead of the fire, It’s just that hot smoke and everything is dried out so much that it just automatically ignites.”

With the upcoming long weekend, Meyer asks that people take extra care when they are outdoors.

“Please don’t throw cigarettes out.” He said. “Please don’t drive through the tall grass. I highly recommend people that want to go out and take hikes to don’t park your vehicles in high grass. That grass is very, very extremely dry and will ignite.”

He also says that if you see fire crews to stay back.

“If we do have to call aircraft in, stay away. If that bird dog is yelping and making a lot of noise, the aircraft is coming in so get out of there.”

by Hayley Ferguson

County continues to battle wildfires

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