With some fires burning in the region and the May long weekend approaching, Alberta Wildfire officials are urging people to be cautious and avoid starting more fires.
Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen says human caused fires has been a big part of their awareness campaigns.
“Don’t be that person to throw a cigarette butt out the window. Don’t be that person to leave a campfire unattended. Make sure your campfires when you leave them you soak, stir and soak again. There’s all these different things that we’re doing. We want to make sure that anybody that has a burning barrel or has been burning brush throughout the season, make sure that they know and are careful with that as we go forward.”
Christie Tucker, information unit manager with Alberta Wildfire, says wildfire information officers have been busy trying to educate people about being more “fire smart”.
“The information officers in all of the forest area of Alberta have been very busy over the past few weeks on that education piece in speaking in schools, in holding fire smart events, in speaking to community events. Information officers and our teams across the province have been out there on the ground over the last few weeks and months building that education and awareness as well.”
Over 300 wildfires have been started in Alberta this year, around two-thirds of them are suspected to be human caused.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
