Mild winter could produce increase in wildfires

Wildfire season in Nova Scotia begins Thursday and a mild winter could be a spark to ignite an increase in the number of fires this year.

“While we’ve seen less snow than past years, we have had a wet and cold winter, making it hard to predict the season ahead,” said Minister of Natural Resources, Margaret Miller. “People should follow burning restrictions and help to reduce the risk of wildfires in our forests,” said Miller, in a press release issued Monday reminding provincial residents to check the BurnSafe website before striking a match.

The website at novascotia.ca/BurnSafe is for counties and municipalities where domestic burning of brush and campfires are permitted or restricted. Burning restrictions apply until Oct. 15.

According to the province’s wildfire statistics, there were 174 such fires recorded last year between March and October.

Cape Breton’s Victoria County was the only one across the province to not record any wildfires in 2017.

While there were no reported wildfires in March 2017, April was set ablaze with 83 reported fires across the province followed by 52 in May.

There were 12 fires in June, 10 in July and 15 in August. At the end of the season, there were five recorded fires in October.

The BurnSafe map is updated daily at 2 p.m. to show if domestic burning of brush and campfires is permitted that day.

The map indicates daily restrictions for counties and municipalities.

Department officials stress that no domestic burning is permitted anywhere in the province between the hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day.

If an area is shown in green, burning is permitted from 2 p.m. through to 8 a.m. If it is shown in yellow, burning is permitted between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. If the area is red, burning is not allowed.

Incendiary device fires were the single largest cause of fires across Nova Scotia in 2017 at 672 fires while debris fires were the second largest cause with 39 reported.

There were seven campfires tagged with resulting in wildfires last year across the province.

The burning restriction information on the BurnSafe map is also available, in a recorded message, by calling toll-free, 1-855-564-2876 (B-U-R-N).

The map applies only to domestic burning. Industrial burning still requires a paper permit from the Department of Natural Resources.

“While we’ve seen less snow than past years, we have had a wet and cold winter, making it hard to predict the season ahead.’’ Margaret Miller, Minister of Natural Resources