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By Tiffany Goodwein

Fire chief urging extreme caution

Hot, dry weather brings extreme fire risk: Cypress County Fire Chief

Apr 29, 2020 | 5:05 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB- It’s been a hot and dry few weeks and as the weather keeps warming up, and so too is the risk of wildfires in the region.

The province’s climate information service said Cypress County only received five to 10 millimeters of rain the past 30 days, and that puts the county at an increased risk, according to fire chief Kelly Meyer.

“We’re in extreme fire risk right now for the fire fuel moisture content. Based off the spread index on the fire fuel moisture content and spread index, if we did have a fire, it would have a very high spread rate,” he said.

Meyer is urging all residents to use extreme caution while the fire risk remains high.

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Fire restrictions are currently in place at the county, which ban the issuing of fire permits.

“All that does is we are not giving out permits for people to burn their pits, because historically we have seen that it is not the day of the burn, it’s a two days after when the wind picks up, the ash gets agitated, throws sparks out, so that’s why we don’t have that,” he said.

Campfires smaller than 36 inches, incinerators, and burning barrels are still allowed under the restrictions.

While fire permits are no longer issued, Meyer said special permits may be given under certain circumstances.

“We are opening up fire permits right now for special conditions. For instance if a farmer or rancher requires to burn off hay bales, old stubble to plant their new crops we will do an inspection. Those inspections will be done by myself or the deputy fire chief, and we will make a determination based on safety, the conditions, if they have the proper suppression equipment,” he said.

Meyer’s team hasn’t been called out to any major blazes as of yet, but he said the current health pandemic has somewhat changed the way they respond to calls.

“With COVID-19 that does present big challenges for us because when you do have a large fire, you do have large amounts of people on scene, so we are trying to practice social distancing, wearing the proper PPE, and try to just do what we can,” he said.

Should a large wildfire break out soon, Meyer said the county fire department is well equipped with enough personnel and resources.

In the meantime, Meyer is urging all residents to use extreme caution while the fire risk remains high.

There are currently seven wildfires burning across the province. Six are classified as under control and one is being held.