There’s a reason wildfire season officially runs until the end of October: another blaze sparked up in the Grande Prairie Forest Area on the 31st. It’s currently being held at around a quarter acre in size.
The fire brings the total for the season to 73 burning 137 hecares in the region. That’s down nearly 40 per cent in land covered.
This year the province started wildfire season early at the beginning of March, and it announced Monday that will be the official date moving forward. The intention is to make sure burning permit requirement are in place in time.
Other measures tabled include increasing penalties for abandoning campfires or breaking fire bans, and ways to stop actions that interfere with firefighting like restricting drones. They also simplify the process to restrict activities like off-highway vehicle use and improve requirements for the disposal of potentially hazardous forest debris.