EDMONTON- The long weekend is quickly approaching, and there’s no doubt people will be heading outside to enjoy the great outdoors.
“I’m looking forward to be back out into nature, without the rush of the traffic and the sounds of the big trucks and the airplanes going overhead,” said Joan Siska, who already has her campsite set up for the weekend at Miquelon Lake Provincial Park.
“To us, the May long weekend is a time to put everything in the city, leave it in the city and come back out and just unwind. And the only place you can do it is back out in nature.”
However, the province is warning Albertans – particularly those going camping – to be extremely cautious with their campfires.
“We know that there’s going to be lots of people out there, tens of thousands of people,” said Geoffrey Driscoll, a wildfire information officer with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. “When you put that many people on the landscape, the likelihood of having campfires that are abandoned goes right up.”
Extremely dry conditions have prompted fire bans in much of central and southern Alberta, including a number of provincial parks. While Miquelon Lake Provincial park does not currently have a fire ban in place, officials say they’re keeping a close eye on weather conditions and a ban could be implemented at any time.
“We look at how dry the ground is, how dry grass is, how much deadfall that we have in the park and when was the last time we had rain,” explained Conservation Officer Dan Neath.
“At any point in time we will initiate (a fire ban), but we will contact every site. We will go door to door, knock on every trailer and tent and let them know that there’s a fire ban on.”
Approximately 1,500 wildfires break out every year in Alberta. Last year, nearly 80 per cent of those fires were human-caused. As a result, officers are urging campers to properly extinguish their fires before going to bed.
Watch Neath’s explanation on how to properly extinguish a campfire.
But, campfires aren’t the only worry for officials.
“Quadders and dirt bikers can cause (fires) if sparks are coming from their off-highway vehicles, so if grass gets caught up that can start a fire. Broken glass can start fires, cigarette butts can start fires,” explained Neath.
The campground at Miquelon Lake is expecting about 2,000 campers this weekend. Officials hope everyone will do their part to prevent fires. Siska says she’s doing her part.
“When I’m not sitting here and I’m just strolling through the park I’m always looking to see how high other people’s fires are.”
She hopes other campers “bring their common sense,” so she can enjoy the weekend outdoors with her husband.
“I love it, I love it, I love it,” she said. “It’s a great place to be.”
There are currently 14 wildfires burning in our province, all but one of which are under control. The wildfire burning just outside of Nordegg is still considered out of control and residents remained on mandatory evacuation Thursday.
While a fire ban has not been declared in Edmonton as of May 17, 2013, residents are asked to be extremely careful with any open flames, including barbeques, legal backyard fire pits, and cooking stoves in parks. Fireworks and any kind of open burning are restricted and require a special permit.
For a full list of the current fire bans in our province, visit www.albertafirebans.ca.
With files from Shannon Greer, Global News.
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