Fire fighters head back to class as fire season wanes

Mother Nature is thankfully co-operating as the Ministry of Natural Resources deals with fewer crews available to fight fires.

As summer winds down, firefighters leaving for school have the ministry shuffling personnel around.

Losing firefighters around the end of the month isn't a problem because the fire season usually declines around this time, according to Heather Pridham, a fire information officer in Dryden.

"The forest fire situation typically quiets down [as we get] cooler temperatures at night and [the] relative humidity is a little bit higher," she said. "The crews that we have left are ample to control the fire situation."

The MNR has also sent more than 30 people and some equipment to British Columbia to help fight wildfires there.

"We consolidate the crews that are out there," Pridham said. "On a typical fire ranger crew, we have a crew leader, a crew boss and two crew members. What we'll do now is we'll have crew leaders and crew bosses and we'll make crews out of those positions."

Pridham she added that, during busy fall seasons, the MNR can extend the contracts of firefighters who aren't returning to school.