It was a busy weekend for firefighters across the region with numerous new starts and flareups around the County of Grande Prairie and the MD of Greenview.
As a result, the MD of Greenview is asking residents to stay aware of any wildfire sightings and has shared a few steps to take when reporting a wildfire.
According to the MD, should you see a fire in a forested area, the first step is to call 310-FIRE to ensure authorities are made aware and can action the blaze as soon as possible.
County of Grande Prairie Fire Chief Trevor Grant suggests that calls from the public have been instrumental in wildfire mitigation across the Peace Country, and encourages all residents to report wildfires as soon as they see them.
“If people see smoke, we encourage them to call it in because if they think- oh somebody else will do it, we really need to get that information to be notified of those fires early so we can actually get crews there to mitigate it when it’s small,” he says. “We really are relying on the public to make those calls for us.”
The MD adds that when calling 310-FIRE, taking note of the wildfire’s location, what is burning, how fast it appears to be spreading, smoke colour, and smoke movement and thickness are critical in providing firefighters the information they need.
