Effective April 15, 2020, there is a Fire Ban and Off-Highway Vehicle Restriction within the Forest Protection Area of Alberta. Following in suit of this initial announcement, the County of Northern Lights Big Lakes County and the County of Grande Prairie have implemented their own fire ban and off-highway vehicle restrictions as of April 15 & 16, 2020. Clear Hills County has also put in place a fire ban as of April 16, 2020.
These bans and restrictions have been put in place as part of a COVID-19 pandemic response, not because of high wildfire hazard. Less human-causes wildfires will allow Alberta Wildfire make the best use of resources as firefighters could potentially be unavailable because of the pandemic.
The Town of High Level, the Town of Manning and the Town of Peace River do not have any fire bans or restrictions in place as of April 16, 2020.
More details regarding the fire bans and restrictions can be found on the Alberta Fire Bans website.
-Erika Rolling, Trending 55 Newsroom
