Firefighters battle grass fires
CBC News | Posted: April 20, 2010 9:23 PM | Last Updated: April 20, 2010
Reeve worries crews may not be able to handle other emergencies
Volunteer fire crews are battling a forest fire near the eastern Manitoba town of Great Falls.
The blaze is spreading along Highway 11, which is near the small town, according to Shauna Paterson, who owns a store right across the highway from where the fire is burning.
"It was pretty bad," Paterson said.
"You could see a lot of flames. There's a couple of the big trees that caught on fire so it was a little nerve-racking for sure."
City bans open-air burning
In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Winnipeg fire officials said they are suspending open-air burning within city limits until further notice due to an "extremely high potential for fires to burn out of control."
The city said it will not issue any permits for landowners to conduct burning on their properties.
Officials promised to take legal action if anyone ignores the suspension.
People using backyard fire pits are not affected by the city's edict, but reminded residents to use caution.
Paterson said it doesn't appear that any buildings are threatened. She added that the area is extremely dry for this time of the year.
Great Falls located about 150 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
2nd fire burns near Winnipeg
A grass fire is also burning along Highway 9 just north of Winnipeg near the Perimeter Highway, according to St. Andrews Reeve Don Forfar.
Forfar is pleading with people to beware of lighting anything on fire given the dry weather conditions.
"It's been non-stop for the last few days," Forfar said. "Three fire halls are jumping from fire to fire."
Forfar said he believes a landowner burning tall grass in a ditch set the fire that's currently burning.
Forfar said he's concerned that crews are so busy they may not be able to quickly respond to other emergencies, like house fires.
"You just know there is another fire waiting to happen and the fear is while they're out working on grass fires ... if someone actually has a house fire, these guys are all tied up with these grass fires." Forfar said.
"It's unbelievably dangerous."
Firefighters face burnout
Volunteer firefighters in southeast Manitoba have been running ragged over the past two weeks in southeast Manitoba.
Crews in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn have fought at least a dozen grass and brush fires in that time, said Reeve Jim Swidersky.
'They're running almost every night and multiple times in one night. They're getting stretched." —Jim Swidersky, RM of Stuartburn reeve
"[We're] very worried that fires might get out of hand and it's costing taxpayers money, too, if fire services is running around in the middle of nowhere," he said.
There is also concern about the small crew of firefighters getting tired so early in the fire season, Swidersky said.
"They're running almost every night and multiple times in one night," he said. "They're getting stretched.
"There's a nucleus of guys that are responding to fires and they come home 2-3 o'clock in the morning and the alarms still go off at 5-6 in the morning for them to go off to their regular jobs, too."
Stuartburn is located about 85 kilometres south of Winnipeg.