The ongoing fire risk in southern Alberta was very apparent over the weekend.
At around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, fire crews from four municipalities responded to a grass fire southwest of Claresholm.
“Approximately 640 acres of stubble grassland and fence was affected by the fire,” said Kelly Starling, director of emergency services for the MD of Willow Creek.
“We got the fire under control at about (4 p.m.) and then crews worked well into the evening to extinguish hotspots.”
Fire departments across Lethbridge County have also been busy recently, responding to multiple haystacks engulfed in flames over the last week.
“This is our major fire season,” said Byron Fraser, Lethbridge County’s manager of fire services.
While officials are seeing similar fire totals compared to previous years, as harvest rolls on and hot, dry weather persists, the risks continue to rise.
“Grass starts to get dry and the farmers have their green crops off and everything kind of dies,” Fraser said. “That’s when our extreme fire season starts, so we’re kind of right in the middle of it.”
Several areas of southern Alberta remained under a fire ban as of Monday afternoon.
But for farmers who have no choice but to continue operating their machinery, fire officers are asking producers to mitigate the risks.
“Keep a lot of the extra debris off, so there’s no extra fuel to ignite with belts and bearings,” said Clayton Rutberg, deputy chief of operations with the Coaldale and District Emergency Services.
“That maintenance is a key aspect, as well as making sure you maintain a fire extinguisher on your equipment.”
Some municipalities have seen rain in recent days, with more in the forecast across southern Alberta this week, but officials said it won’t do much to lower the fire danger.
“Even this little bit of rain is quickly absorbing with the sun and the little bit of wind we’ve got going here,” Starling said. “Until we receive a large amount of precipitation, we’ll still be in a fire ban.”
And the danger could persist for months.
“The biggest thing for us would be once we get snow on the ground,” Fraser said.
“(In) southern Alberta we get very little snow or even moisture until after January, so it can move right into November or December.”
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