After more than a month, municipalities in the Kawarthas region are beginning to lift fire bans following a decision by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to lift the restricted fire zone designation for the province’s fire region at 4 p.m. on Tuesday (July 11).
“The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry would like to thank Ontarians and visitors for doing their part to help prevent forest fires and keep communities safe,” reads the ministry’s forest fires web page. “Please continue to use extreme caution and follow Ontario’s outdoor fires regulations when having an outdoor fire.”
According to the ministry, the decision to lift the restricted fire zone considered factors including daily weather and fire conditions, forecasted weather trends over longer periods of time, and potential drying conditions and precipitation.
“We also consider the number of wildland fires that are burning and the number of resources required to manage both current and potential wildland fires,” the ministry states.
Another factor that influenced the fire ban was to avoid exacerbating the poor air quality over the past month due to smoke from forest fires in northeastern Ontario and Quebec.
The ministry points out that a provincial restricted fire zone and municipal fire ban can be in place at the same time or separately.
“It is important that the public check with their local municipality as they may have local fire bans or fire restrictions in place.”
As a result of the province’s decision, municipalities in the greater Kawarthas region are beginning to lift local fire bans.
On Wednesday (July 12), the Kawartha Lakes Fire Department lifted its total burn ban effective at 9 a.m. With the lifting of the municipal burn ban, the Kawartha Lakes Fire Department has set the burn hazard index rating to high. While the burn hazard index is set to high, open-air fires using extreme caution are allowed in the municipality.
Other municipalities that have lifted their fire bans as of Wednesday include North Kawartha Township and the Municipality of Trent Lakes in Peterborough County, and the Municipality of Highlands East in Haliburton County. Normal seasonal burn restrictions remain in effect, including no daytime burning.
Check your municipality’s website or social media accounts to determine if local fire bans have been lifted and any burning restrictions that remain in place.
As for future provincial fire bans, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says it will continue to assess forest fire hazard conditions and a restricted fire zone designation “may be reinstated in higher risk areas if the fire hazard and fire activity warrants.”
