A lack of snow and a slower melt exposing dry, dead grass are contributing to a tough firefighting situation for personnel in Brandon and the rest of the WestMan area.
Brandon Fire and Emergency Services were called out to a grass fire yesterday at about 4:22 PM near the 2300 block of Southern Avenue, not far from the Brandon Eagles Gymnastics Centre. There were no injuries in the fire.
“There was a small grass fire right along the CNR railway in the south ditch,” said BFES Fire Chief Terry Parlow. “We were on scene for only 18 minutes, so were not on scene very long. We soaked down the area and took out any hotspots. There was no one around when we arrived.”
BFES attend a grassfire off Southern Avenue in Brandon on April 15. (Photo by Frank McGwire)
While this fire went about as well as could be asked, Parlow sees some signs of a tougher grass fire season than usual. Winter and spring haven’t set WestMan up as well as possible to avoid fires.
“This is the time when we are most susceptible, when it starts getting dry out,” Parlow said, “especially since this area of the province, although we’re just getting through the winter season, surprisingly enough, we are one of the drier areas in the province with regards to the snowfall that we received.”
Parlow had a simple ask of people in the WestMan area in light of a heightened fire risk.
“Just be aware and make sure you’re very careful around grass fires, and not doing things that could result in a grass fire.”
