Off-highway vehicles are temporarily banned from southern Alberta’s forest areas because of high fire risk.
The Alberta government announced the ban today.
It is the latest fire prevention measure imposed by the government, which has also prohibited open fires and campfires in campgrounds and suspended all fire permits in an area south of the Red Deer River along the mountains and foothills to the northern boundary of Waterton Lakes National Park.
“We are closely monitoring the situation as the fire hazard is reaching extreme levels throughout the forest in southern Alberta,” said Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier in a news release.
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“Any fire that starts could spread out of control in a very short time. That’s why we are taking additional steps to reduce the chance of any human-caused fires starting.”
The release noted Alberta has firefighters, helicopters and air tankers available to fight any fires that occur. The province is also providing fire-fighting assistance in British Columbia, where more than 150 fires continue to burn. B.C. has declared a state of emergency expected to last until at least Aug. 4.
A government website, albertafirebans.ca, shows areas where bans are in place. They are concentrated in an area generally south of Calgary, though Jasper National Park and the municipality of Jasper also have bans, as does Kneehill County and Trochu.
All counties and municipal districts south of Calgary have imposed fire bans, with the exception of the County of Newell and the Special Areas east of Calgary and along the Saskatchewan border, which have fire restrictions as opposed to outright bans.
An extended period of hot, dry weather in southern Alberta and southern B.C. has raised the risk of fire and no appreciable moisture is in this week’s weather forecast for most of the region.
barb.glen@producer.com
