Wednesday, May 10, 2023 Vol. 46, No. 19
$1 includes GST
Your LOCAL Paper!
Firefighters battle 'significant’ brush fire west of Viking as province deals with almost 100 wildfires Patricia Harcourt Editor
Viking Fire and Rescue battled what was called a “significant’ brush fire west of Viking on Thursday, May 4. The fire was difficult enough to extinguish that four departments with over 10 fire units were needed to control the fires. Along with Viking, there were firefighters from Kinsella, Bruce, and Irma fire departments. As well as the larger brush fire, a smaller grass fire also took hold that day. Both were burning along the CN Rail line. “The Viking Fire Department responded to two separate incidents that were started along the CN rail tracks,” said Viking Fire Chief Kevin Fornal. “The first one was about noon on the 4th (of May) and was located east of Viking at Range Road 120 with the second one approximately at 1900 hours located west towards Bruce in the area of Range Road 140. “The first fire took approximately five hours to bring under control with several hours extinguishing hot spots,” he said. “The second one was smaller and was easily extinguished in a short time.” He estimated that the fire to the east burned about “a one mile long area of grass and thick brush.” The larger fire had the fire department on scene for about six hours. A message was sent out at the time for people to avoid driving by the fire scene out of curiosity. “We need our room to work and for coming and going of trucks,” said the message. The dry conditions here and all over the province have resulted in a provincial state of emergency being declared. A large majority of the wildfires being fought right now are the result of
human error. In Viking, a cigarette was found in the burnt grass resulting in another message: “The dangers of flicking a cigarette out the window, even if you think it will land on the highway, can have devastating results.” However Fornal says the cause was due to something else. “The cause was not believed to be a cigarette, but started by the CN train,” he said. And there was quick action to contain it. “A couple of farmers brought their tractors out to help disc the fire to prevent fire spread,” he said. “With the windy conditions sparks were jumping up to 100 feet and the farmers with the tractors were able to work up the field and extinguish smaller fires and limit fire spread.” He also explained that the picture used online to show the way the tractors worked, “was not actually from that day but was an example of what was used.” He added: “It was difficult to extinguish due to the extreme heat, rapid spread, thick brush, and uneven terrain.” Online the fire department warned about the dry conditions and human behaviour that could spark more incidents. “Please use extreme caution when disposing of any materials that could start a fire. It not only is dangerous but it is also littering.” A fire restriction issued April 28 by Beaver Emergency Services Commission (BESC) was upgraded May 3 to a fire ban. Fornal offered this advice about preventing any chance of more fires occurring: “If people can follow the fire ban, use caution when using ATV or UTVs in grassy areas and always do not discard cigarette butts out the windows,”
he said. “The fire ban calls for a complete ban on any fire related uses such as fire pits, etc.,” he said. “The restriction still allows some things to occur but with dry conditions it was decided to move to a ban.” The ban includes all of rural Beaver County and the urban municipalities that lie within that boundary. He said people can also go to the websites albertafirebans.ca and besc.ca which have the current fire bans/restrictions posted. So far, there have been no further incidents locally of fires taking hold, he said on Monday night. As of May 8, there were 98 active
wildfires in the province. Two days previously, a provincial state of emergency was declared. Under the Emergency Management Act, a state of emergency is a legal mechanism “that provides the provincial government with a higher level of intergovernmental coordination, around the clock monitoring of the situation, access to emergency discretionary funds, the ability to mobilize additional supports and continue working with municipalities, organizations and businesses to support evacuated residents.” There are also 17 states of local emergency declared, as well as two band Continued on Page 2