Municipalities on the northeast Avalon will try to coordinate their approach to fire bans and the like this summer by relying more heavily on the Forest Fire Index.
May 1st marks the beginning of forest fire season in the province, and nobody wants a repeat of last year when the Avalon Peninsula and central Newfoundland burned.
Fred Hollett, the fire chief in Portugal Cove-St. Philips, says it became confusing to people when bans were on one day, off the next in one city or town but on all the way through in a neighbouring municipality.
He says people should check the index, which is a colour-coded system with blue/green being low risk, then going higher with yellow.
“The red colours mean that it’s very high or extreme. People can reach out to their municipality or you can call Paddy’s Pond,” says Chief Hollett.
Meanwhile, a temporary law in Nova Scotia banning people from going into the woods last summer as a means to prevent forest fires has been ruled by the courts to be unreasonable.
In a ruling on Friday, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court said the ban limited the rights of citizens to move freely, a right protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Newfoundland and Labrador did not close the woods, but imposed harsh penalties for anyone convicted of starting a fire during a time when outdoor fires were banned. The fines ranged from as little as $50,000 to a high of $150,000.
