Extreme fire hazard conditions have led the city fire service to issue a ban on open burning.
Thunder Bay Fire Rescue announced the fire ban Tuesday morning. In a media release, the fire department said it applies to the following within the city limits:
- All open air burning
- Campfires and recreational fires
- Fireworks
“We all know the extreme weather we had this weekend, the extreme temperatures with no rain, so things are drying up, so we felt it was due to do the fire ban this morning,” said Kevin Anderson, division chief of fire prevention at Thunder Bay Fire Rescue. “Anything we can do to limit the cause, or potential cause, of another fire is just a prudent thing to do.”
“We're going to do that for the time being.”
All recreational fire permits that normally allow people to have backyard fires have been suspended indefinitely, Anderson said. In addition to public messaging, he said individual permit holders have also been contacted directly and he advised people to check their emails.
Fireworks permits have also been suspended, Anderson added.
Violators will be fined, officials said, with the minimum penalty being $583.05. If someone is found to have caused a wildfire, that cost can go up significantly, Anderson said.
“Residents are to use extreme caution, avoid activities that create sparks and to dispose of cigarettes safely,” the fire service’s media release said. “To protect households from wildland fires, residents can manage the vegetation around their property in accordance with the Ontario FireSmart guidelines.”
“Those at risk of being evacuated are encouraged to prepare a 72-hour kit and to arrange alternate accommodations.”
Anderson said, as of early Tuesday afternoon, there were no wildfires immediately threatening Thunder Bay proper.
The city was still under an orange-coded heat warning Tuesday, as well as an orange-coded air quality warning due to the many wildfires burning in the Northwest as well as Minnesota.
Several rural municipalities around the city have already instituted burn bans.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has also announced a restricted fire zone across much of Northwestern Ontario. Anderson said there is collaboration between the provincial wildland fire authorities and the municipality.
“Usually … it goes hand in hand,” he said. “It's about the same time and sometimes they go first and we follow suit — in this case we might have beat them just by a little bit.”
The fire ban typically gets reviewed weekly, Anderson said, and local fire officials will stay in contact with the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The fire hazard was extreme throughout most of the Northwest on Tuesday.