Firefighters in the Fraser Valley are concerned about the number of fires they’ve had to deal with over the last several weeks and are putting out a warning.
Effective June 1, a burning ban has been implemented in Surrey. All burning permits have been revoked due to extremely dry conditions and high fire hazard. The District of Mission has also declared a total ban on all open burning, including campfires, within its boundaries. The burning ban also prohibits the use of open fires for cooking, warmth or ceremonial purposes including recreational fire pits. The use of fireworks is also prohibited.
“We’ve had eight fires over the past week that were significant enough that if we hadn’t attended, they would have increased in size and put the community at risk,” says Norm MacLeod with Mission Fire.
Fire crews have had to put out 86 outdoor fires since May.
Many of those were sparked by cigarette butts and camp fires.
Officials are worried about dry conditions because more sunshine and warm temperatures are in the forecast.
“People need to be careful outdoors with this ban in place,” says Assistant Chief Steve Robinson with Surrey Fire.”We don’t want to see a small brush fire travel, grow larger and impact somebody’s property.”
With files from Jeremy Hunka
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