(file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Ban on burning

Meadow Lake, RM#588, Flying Dust under fire ban

Apr 27, 2023 | 3:54 PM

The City of Meadow Lake, the Rural Municipality [RM] of Meadow Lake #588, and Flying Dust First Nation have all been placed under a fire ban until further notice, due to dry and windy conditions in the area.

“With the dry conditions, fires can start and they can take off quite quickly,” Meadow Lake Fire Department Acting Fire Chief Rick Burnett said. “There is not too much moisture in the ground.

All controlled burning is prohibited during this period as a precaution until conditions improve.

Burnett said firefighters attended a grass fire on a field at Flying Dust First Nation yesterday at about 5:30 p.m. from the dry conditions.

“It could have ended up being worse. But we were able to stop it,” he said.

Tariff threat

Saskatchewan watching closely for tariffs threatened by Trump

14h ago

Politics

Liberal leadership race crystallizes as candidates make opening pitches

Jan 18, 2025

Middle east conflict

Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to begin Sunday

Jan 18, 2025

His team managed to contain the fire within about half an hour. A Flying Dust member used a front-end loader to create a fireguard so the fire wouldn’t progress into the trees, until the tanker truck arrived. The loader was used to dig up the ground around the fire to build a barrier, to prevent the fire from spreading further.

“We ended up putting some hot spots out for another hour,” Burnett said.

The following activities are prohibited within the specified areas for the City of Meadow Lake, the Rural Municipality of Meadow Lake #588, and Flying Dust First Nation during the fire ban: campfires and open air fires; the use of tiki torches, fireworks, firecrackers, sky lanterns, burning barrels or burning cages; and the use of binary exploding targets, for example for rifle target practice.

This prohibition does not apply to CSA-rated or ULC-rated cooking stoves that use gas, propane or briquettes, or to a portable campfire apparatus that uses briquettes, liquid or gaseous fuel, as long as the height of the flame is less than 15 centimeters.

Burnett also reminds people not to throw out a match or cigarette into the grass.

“Even quading can be bad too, in the fields” Burnett cautions. “It can start the grass on fire.”

—

Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @meadowlakenow