By Charles Lefebvre

Fire ban

Cypress County implements fire ban

Aug 1, 2019 | 12:47 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB — Cypress County has officially put a fire ban in place on all fires in the county ahead of the August long weekend.

The order, issued Thursday morning, was issued as the county is facing an extreme fire hazard due to “lack of precipitation, hot and dry conditions, and resource management.”

The county has been dealing with wildfires for the past week, noting an estimated 17,000 hectares of land has burned in the county in the areas of Walsh and Suffield. The Suffield fire has been extinguished, while the fire in Walsh has been confined to a coulee, with crews monitoring the site 24 hours a day to prevent flareups.

The ban means all fire permits are cancelled, and no new permits will be issued.

The ban does not cover Cypress Hills Provincial Park, because it’s under provinical mandate.

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According to Alberta Parks, there’s no restriction or ban in place for Cypress Hills.

“Being in contact with the forestry guys and provincial parks, we didn’t really have a major conversation about fire bans for them or anything,” says Kelly Meyer, Cypress County fire chief. “We just did talk about resource sharing in event something happens there or something happens with us.”

The county presently remains under a local state of emergency.