New Brunswick has seen a pretty typical wildfire season so far, according to the province’s wildfire officials.
According to the New Brunswick Forest Fire Watch website, a total of 33 fires have burned 29.1 hectares as of Friday.
“If you look at the 10-year average, we’re pretty much on par, just slightly under, but that’s just a matter of one rainy day makes a difference sometimes,” said Roger Collett, the province’s wildfire prevention officer.
“But if you look at last year, we had snow well into May in most of the province, so we’re quite a bit higher than last year.”
The 10-year average for this time of year is 44 fires and 55.6 hectatres of burned area. There had only been six fires and 4.5 hectares of burned area at this time last year.
Collet said this is a busy time of year for wildfires, noting about 70 per cent of all fires happen in the spring.
“Things tend to dry up very quickly. There’s not a lot of green on the ground so the grass is dead and dry, leaves are dead and dry. They might take in a little bit of water when it rains or when it snows on top of it, but as soon as that goes away, it dries up very quickly,” he said.
There are several things New Brunswickers can do to help prevent wildfires, said Collet.
“We would encourage maybe mulching instead or disposing of your debris at a landfill or something like that would be more appropriate at this time of year especially since a lot of people misjudge how quickly a fire can get away from them,” he said.
If you are going to do some burning, Collet said it is important to make sure there are no burn bans in place.
There is a province-wide burn ban in place until at least May 1 due to the ongoing state of emergency.
Follow
