Corman Park reeve urges people to follow fire bans

With dry conditions set to continue in the forecast, the reeve of the Rural Municipality of Corman Park is reminding people that a fire ban is still in place.

“I think people think ‘ok I’m going to go out a burn a little bit of garbage’,” Judy Harwood told 650 CKOM on Monday morning. “It doesn’t take much to blow a spark somewhere and it is so tinder dry.”

The R.M. has seen a pair of significant grass fires in less than a week.

The first sparked south of Saskatoon last Tuesday and burned two-thirds of the Cranberry Flats conservation area.

Over the Easter long weekend crews from several departments including Saskatoon, Dalmeny, Warman, Martensville and Langham helped put out a fire 20 kilometres west of Saskatoon.

The blaze caused significant damage to an abandoned farmyard and took more than 12 hours to extinguish.

People caught burning during the ban could face a fine.

Harwood warned if a fire gets out of hand people may also be on the hook for the cost of putting it out.

“The bill could be dramatic and keep in mind both of those fires (last Tuesday and on Saturday) also had planes involved,” she explained.

Harwood advised homeowners to review their insurance policies to make sure they’re adequately protected in the event of a fire.

She also expressed gratitude to the dozens of people who have helped fight the recent grass fires.

“Credit to all of these volunteers (volunteer firefighters) they just do an amazing job, and sometimes I don’t know if they get thanked enough,” Harwood said.