Saskatchewan carrying out prescribed burns as 2024 fire season begins

Controlled or prescribed burns are utilized to ensure the health of Saskatchewan's parks and grasslands. (Source: Canadian Prairies Prescribed Fire Exchange/ Angie Li)

With fire bans currently in effect, residents may be concerned to see smoke coming from rural areas across Saskatchewan. However, prescribed burns are being carried out to help keep many prairie regions healthy.

“Prairies evolved with fire so the fact that we don’t have fire is more of a problem. We’re trying to bring back a little bit of those burns, a little bit of those benefits in some of our park’s grasslands,” Dale Gross, a grassland ecologist with Sask. Parks explained.

These kinds of burns differ from grass fires in the sense that they are planned ahead of time with the necessary resources available to keep the blaze under control in the designated area, and will never be conducted in an area with a fire ban in effect.

“We’re in constant contact with local RMs, firefighters, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA). If there was a fire ban is in place in an area, we wouldn’t burn out of respect for that fire ban,” Gross said.

“We are conducting our burns under those specific conditions and if they aren’t met we don’t burn.”

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Many parts of northern and central Saskatchewan are seeing fire bans, while the southern region is slated to see some much needed moisture in coming days.

Terri Lang is a meteorologist with Environment Canada, and she spoke with CTV regarding what the coming days might look like in the province.

“Across southern Saskatchewan it’ll certainly help to dampen any kind of risk of grassfires, which tend to be more common in the spring time after the snow melts but before everything greens up,” Lang said.

• Here's where fire bans and restrictions are in effect in Sask.

Conducted on days with lower wind speeds and higher relative humidity, these fires are planned far in advance with signage and notification indicating that the flames are controlled.

“We take these precautions very seriously. Like I said, we’re conducting those under specific environmental conditions. The sites are walked in advanced so that no animals are harmed in those areas,” Gross added.

In spite of the moisture and prescribed burns in the province, officials still emphasise that this is a delicate time of year for wildfires and anyone out in these rural areas should be mindful of any fire restrictions in place.

“We caution people even after it rains, because then they get this kind of false sense of security but to be really careful with any ignition sources,” Lang explained.

While prescribed burns are conducted with notice, people are still encouraged to call 911 if they think a wildfire is in progress.

“We’ll have signs up, we’ll have notified the neighbourhood in advance, the controlled burn line is aware of what they’re doing,” Gross explained. “If people do see smoke and call in to that burn line or to call 911 because they see smoke, those crews will already know that we’re burning.”