As the long weekend approaches, the Huntsville Lake of Bays Fire Department wants to keep fire safety top of mind.
Steve Markham, Fire Department public education officer, says to always check the fire ratings on the municipal website, as it changes on a daily basis.
“Right now, from April 1 to October 31, there is no daytime burning,” Markham says.
Markham says you can only have a fire after 6 p.m., and only burn “clean, dry wood.”
“Make sure you are 20 feet away from any sort of combustible materials. That is your buildings or the forests around,” Markham says. “You can have a two by two foot fire. It is a relatively small fire. It is those campfires you typically think you think of when you are having fun. You can’t have these big roaring bonfires.”
He says people also need to make sure they have an extinguisher agent, like a hose or a bucket of water to make sure it is completely extinguished.
He says the May long weekend is the “start” of the fire department’s busy season.
“I’m a firefighter in Lake of Bays. We go from 3,500 people to 20,000 people. There is quite a big uptake on how many people are coming,” Markham says, “and there is a lot of renters that may not understand the rules. So we’ll see a whole bunch of calls go through where we’re going out and having to attend to these different complaints.”
To find up to date information in your municipality, click here (Police and Fire Services – The District Municipality of Muskoka)
