Lethbridge County gearing up for grass fire season; several blazes over past few weeks

LETHBRIDGE — With temperatures on the rise, so is the number of grass fires in southern Alberta.

“We’ve responded to several grass fires over the past few weeks,” said Byron Fraser, manager of fire services for Lethbridge County.

With sunshine and limited precipitation in the long-range forecast, Fraser says that’s the perfect recipe to spark a grass fire.

“The snow comes off the ground, thaws and all the deadfall from last year and the dead fuels are sitting there, waiting until the grass greens up,” he said.

Although it has been a fairly wet spring, Fraser says that won't matter come the summer months.

“In southern Alberta, we could literally have rain or snow today, kind of what we did last week,” Fraser said.

“We had rain and snow on the Monday and Tuesday, and then by Thursday, with the winds, everything is already dry. So, it doesn't take long and those old, dry fuels dry out very quick in the wind.”

The grass fire risk in the region is considered low right now, but crews across southern Alberta are already beginning to prepare for the summer.

“It's kind of short at this time of year, the grass fire season, because we get that spring moisture, but like I said, we got a lot of prolonged warm weather,” he said.

“There is a lot of foot-and-a-half to two feet of fuels out there in a lot of grassland that doesn't get grazed, so the potential is very high.”

Fraser says fortunately, there haven't been a lot of fires in Lethbridge County over the past few summers.

He says grass fires can ignite from a variety of natural causes, but the majority are caused by humans.

“People just not paying attention to their burn permits. When we're not under a restriction or a ban and they're allowed to burn, they get complacent, right? It's just a little pile, whatever, but you can have pretty calm this afternoon, but by this evening winds are up to 80 km and they weren't paying attention to it,” Fraser said.

“And, simple things like throwing a cigarette out the window or anything like that.”

With the warmer weather, Fraser says Lethbridge County can impose fire restrictions at any time.