SILVER WATER—The Robinson Township volunteer fire department has been turned down in its request for the installation of a weather monitoring station to keep track of the fire hazard in the township.
“We had requested support for a weather monitoring station to be installed in the community so that we could monitor the forest fire hazard levels in the township and area,” stated Doug Wismer, fire chief of the Robinson Township Volunteer Fire Department. “Having this information is part of the criteria used by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to decide if they are going to apply for a restricted fire zone, which last year covered the entire Northeast region of Ontario, or establish a fire ban through the Ontario Fire Marshall (OFM) office,” said Mr. Wismer. “We have to apply to OFM and MNRF for support on these actions.”
Mr. Wismer said the Robinson Township Fire Department “was turned down on its application for the weather monitoring station by the MNRF. Their (MNRF) records indicate that we have only had five fires in the township since 1989. I counted 20 fires over that same time period. They didn’t have a record of all the other fires including a large fire which took place in the late 1990s where water bombers were brought in and the fire was heading straight for the Zhiibaahaasing First Nation.”
“I have sent back an email response to their letter providing the information on the fires we responded to (since 1989), and asking them to contact someone higher up the ladder of the ministry for consideration on our request,” said Mr. Wismer.
