A lot of people aren’t happy about this new open air burning ban that came into effect County-wide April 1. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
The new rules were endorsed by all four fire chiefs whose primary job it is to identify potential problems, or areas of concern, and find solutions. All to keep County residents safe.
They have decided to adopt a new bylaw that establishes consistent burning regulations across the Highlands. Some new provisions are being introduced, chiefly the elimination of daytime burning during the fire season, which runs until Oct. 31.
This should come as a surprise to no one considering how brutal things got last year.
The 2023 wildfire season in Ontario went down as the worst on record in Canada’s history. There were 741 recorded blazes, which burnt 441,474 hectares of forest and green land across the province.
Haliburton County certainly was not immune. Fire bans were put into place several times throughout the year, including following one weekend in May when our four volunteer detachments were stretched to the limit, responding to five sizeable fires within a 12-hour period.
There was a bush fire in Algonquin Highlands, which took 35 firefighters to extinguish; a small bush fire near Eagle Lake that half a dozen Dysart firefighters responded to; and three blazes in Minden – including a bush fire on Black Lake that required Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) intervention. Former Minden Hills fire chief Shain Duda said it was the craziest year he’d seen in more than two decades of firefighting.
Fast forward to this past weekend and firefighters were busy again – the quick thaw paving way for dangerously dry conditions, according to Dysart fire chief Dan Chumbley.
What started as a harmless brush fire on a property along Gelert Road suddenly caught wind around 1 p.m. Saturday, spreading quickly through the dry grass and engulfing a nearby barn. It took 30 firefighters several hours to bring the blaze under control. It scorched around 11 acres, said Minden Hills acting fire chief Rob Thibert.
Highlands East fire chief Chris Baughman said there were several other brush fires reported in the County over the weekend.
While I understand people enjoy their campfires and burns, public safety, and that of our volunteer firefighters, must take precedent. And it’s not like this is a 24-hour, seven day a week ban – people are allowed to stoke their campfires come 7 p.m.
Given the long line of evidence we’ve seen in recent years, this new bylaw is much needed. Volunteer units are being stretched to their limit keeping up with all the local fires, many of which originate from innocent, seemingly innocuous, brush burns. All it takes is a sudden gust of wind for things to go awry – as one local family, unfortunately, learned the hard way this past weekend.
It won’t be the last time property is lost in this County due to fire – but if this new bylaw helps to reduce the growing number of tragedies we’ve witnessed in recent years, it will be a major win.
