P.E.I. fire chiefs warn it's too dry to burn

Fire personnelon P.E.I.sayit's too dry to burn. The fire weather index for 2018 went onlineWednesday, and as ofWednesdayafternoon listed moderatefor western and central-southeastern P.E.I., while northeastern P.E.I. is listed as high.But some fire chiefs have already been busy with grass fires in their areas.

"Very busy this year, everything is pretty dry. We had one grass fireon Mondayand another yesterday[Tuesday]," saidSt. Peter's fire Chief Craig Campbell.

He saidit is frustrating whenpeople get a permit, and then don't look at the conditions, and don't callin to warn the fire department.

The majority of the time homeowners don't realize you actually do need a burning permit to burn any type of vegetation.- Jason Woodbury, Miscouchefire Chief

"I don't know what people are thinking, but I think they should rethink their train of thought when it's this dry this early in the season," he said.

"We haven't had any phone calls yet before people start burning, they're supposed to check their permit and go by their conditions and call us and let us know, but nobody has done that so far."

Some municipalities ban burning

Miscouchefire Chief Jason Woodburyhas had the same experience.

"The majority of the time homeowners don't realize you actually do need a burning permit to burn any type of vegetation on their property," hesaid.

Woodburythinksfor the past few springsconditions have been getting drier, and that burning isn't always the best solution.

"As the temperatures get warmer, homeowners tend to feel that burning vegetation promotes growth.We can't stress enough that that's not the case, and they can turn out to be very dangerous and spread rather quickly."

Woodbury also wants residents to check with their local municipalities, because some may ban burning altogether, as is the case with Miscouche.

Permits can become invalid

The burning season in P.E.I. is betweenMarch 15 and November 30, after which burning permits are invalid. A permit allows the burning of natural bush and vegetation in areas where that's permitted. But there are factors that can invalidate a permit inside burning season.

"First is the fire weather index ... that fire weather index has to be low, and today across P.E.I, it's in the moderate or high range so that would automatically invalidate the permits," said Mike Montigny, manager of field services with the Department of Communities, Land and Environment.

"And the second condition is that wind speeds must be below 10 kilometres per hour."

Montigny said if a person does not comply with those conditions, or doesn't have a permit, there could be a fine. But he said the department prefers education over issuing fines, with the hope of preventing more fires in the future.

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