A brush fire in Red Deer on Tuesday added to growing safety concerns about dry, windy conditions in Central Alberta.
A dozen fire-medics fought the fire on about 400 square metres of grass, brush and forest on the hillside between Parkland Mall and Riverside Light Industrial Park.
They bushwacked up and down the escarpment to battle the flames, which were pushed up the hill by winds.
The fire-medics mopped up two hours after being called out at 11:22 a.m.
Red Deer Emergency Services platoon chief Glen Thomlison said they didn’t know what caused the fire.
“Who knows? If somebody got out of their car and flicked a cigarette, you’d just never know,” said Thomlison. “High winds and dry ground (were an issue), and of course the temperature, the warm weather, no rain.
“People just have to be aware that the conditions are extremely dry. . . . We just need to be more aware of our conditions, I think, and be more careful.”
A power pole was caught up in the fire, damaging underground conductors that run up it.
“It shorted the cable out to ground, and that put an overcurrent on the cable, and then the protection system in the substation recognized it and shut the power off,” said Electric Light and Power Department general foreman Brent McCabe.
Several hundred ELP customers were out of power for about 20 minutes, he said.
Tuesday’s fire was one of a number of grass and brush fires that Emergency Services has responded to since the snows receded, although none have been to the same degree, Thomlison said.
The department is asking residents to be responsible when butting out.
The call to action comes after butts recently tossed onto the sidewalk and into a peat moss planter resulted in what fire prevention officer Wes Van Bavel classified as two close calls.
He said irresponsible ways of discarding cigarettes, such as in dry planters that consist of combustible material, is a longstanding issue that has seen homes lost to fire in past years.
“On hot days, windy days like this, throwing your cigarette butt in (peat moss planters) is like throwing it into a bunch of loose paper with gas on it,” Van Bavel said. “You throw it into that peat moss planter and it may be the loss of your home or more.”
He pointed out careless disposal of cigarettes caused two significant fires in Calgary in the span of a week in March, with a butt thrown into a planter claiming a condo complex.
Cigarettes should be put out only in metal or glass containers, Van Bavel said.
“Be a responsible smoker,” he stressed. “Planter pots are not ash trays.”
Residents are also being asked to be extra cautious when smoking around the park system as dryness persists throughout the region.
He also encourage anyone who witnesses anything out of the ordinary to contact Emergency Services or the RCMP.
Red Deer County community and protective services director Ric Henderson is also frustrated that residents continue to light up burn barrels or throw away cigarette butts carelessly.
County volunteer firefighters were called out six times last weekend, he said. “There is no need for it. A lot of it is carelessness on people’s part.”
The county has had a fire ban in place since March 29. Those ignoring bylaws face a $100 fine on first offence and $200 on second and subsequent offences.
ptrotter@www.reddeeradvocate.com
mgauk@www.reddeeradvocate.com