ROBINSON TOWNSHIP—The Robinson Township volunteer fire department is expecting a meeting with representatives of the Ontario Fire Marshall in September to discuss its concerns with a recent request for a total fire ban in the township being rejected. As well, the fire department is going to be making a formal request to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) for a monitoring station that will help gauge the need for fire bans to be set up in the area.
“My deputy fire chief has been in contact with the ministry about MNRF having a monitoring station in place in our area,” said Doug Wismer, Robinson township fire chief. He explained, “through these monitoring stations the ministry collects information like temperature and rainfall amounts. From that information they can help determine the forest fire rating for an area.”
Mr. Wismer explained, “the closest monitoring station to us is Massey and at the Blue Jay Creek office. However, they are not accurate for our area, and we want to see if we can get one established in our area.”
With the fire monitoring station in the Robinson Township area, “it would give them (OFM and MNRF) a better idea of what our fire reading should be,” said Mr. Wismer. “They monitor the readings.”
“We need something here that is better than the system we currently have in place,” said Mr. Wismer. “No, we still don’t have a total fire ban in place here. But it is extremely dry. The only thing that is saving us is that the nights are getting cooler. The grass greened up a bit but underneath everything is still very dry. And in my career on the fire department, I have seen two or three years where there were major droughts, that can go into September and even October.”
As was reported in the August 9 edition of The Expositor Mr. Wismer had expressed his dismay that the province did not approve the request to extend a fire ban in Robinson. He had explained Robinson had a total fire ban in place for July 14-28, and because it can sometimes take a little time to get approval, the fire department had applied for an extension a little before the end of the previous ban. “But they simply refused this time and said they would not extend the fire ban,” he said. He explained as Robinson is deemed an unincorporated township they deal with an advisor with the OFM office but they connect with the MNRF before a decision is made on a fire ban.
Sean Driscoll, public relations officer with the Ministry of the Solicitor General told The Expositor in an email August 14, “the Forest Fires Prevention Act (FFPA) establishes rules for outdoor fires including what can be burned, where and when, inside and outside the Ontario Fire Region. Regulations under the FFPA outline the rules, risk factors and where the Ontario Fire Region is located.”
“Under the FFPA, a restricted fire zone (RFZ) may be established by order of the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry to temporarily restrict the use of open fires in a specific area of the province to prevent human-caused fires when the fire hazard is extreme or when firefighting resources are limited,” wrote Mr. Driscoll.
“An RFZ can only be imposed by MNRF inside the fire region of Ontario and only applies to areas within the region. Additionally, both a municipal fire ban and a ministry RFZ can be in place on the same piece of land inside the Ontario fire region at the same time,” wrote Mr. Driscoll.
Outside of the Ontario fire region, only municipalities have the jurisdiction to restrict outdoor fires through their municipal fire bans, however, the OFM may also impose a fire ban in unincorporated territories that are inside of the fire region. An OFM fire ban would not be imposed when there is a ministry RFZ in place.”
“As Robinson township is an unincorporated township, a fire ban was imposed by the OFM for a period of time until conditions improved at which time the ban was lifted,” continued Mr. Driscoll. “When the request by the township was made to extend the fire ban, the OFM consulted with the MNRF’s fire management supervisor and the determination was made that an extension was not necessary.”
“The other issue is that soon the summer people will be leaving,” said Mr. Wismer. “They are part of the hazard, because they don’t seem to understand that when it has been as dry as it has been, it is important that they don’t have any type of open burning when the weather and ground conditions are so dry.”
“If the ministry approves having a monitoring station here, it would be a start,” said Mr. Wismer. “We want to get all the issues sorted out now so we can be prepared for next year.”
