By Jeff Labine

Firefighters light up some grass

Apr 28, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

That was the plan for dozens of Prince Albert and Buckland firefighters who were out at Little Red River Park on Friday. Crews, with the help of the province’s ministry of environment, were performing controlled burns in the tall grass to prevent wildfires from happening.

Prince Albert fire Capt. Randy Hurd said there’s multiple ways fires can start from discarded cigarettes to sparks from dirt bikes.

“We got quite a large area of wildland grass that has been left unattended over the last couple of years,” he said. “It’s getting to the point where it is getting quite hazardous both to the surrounding forest, and to the surrounding people who live in the area in the north part of Prince Albert.”

A controlled burn requires two trucks laying down lines of foam with space for fire to burn between. Firefighters then take canisters filled with fuel called drip torches and drop enflamed fuel on the grass.

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Hurd warned residents the controlled burning would start as of Thursday. If they should see smoke throughout the next couple of weeks, they shouldn’t be alarmed.

 “It’s a lot easier to control [a fire] if you are doing a controlled burn,” he said. “It will mitigate a lot of the unexpected. If someone comes out here and happens to be having a party or lightning it up without us knowing, we have control now otherwise we would have to response in an emergency fashion.”

Hurd called the area at the top of Little Red River Park a problem area because of its tall grass. The popular park often sees hikers and dirt bikers so there’s a elevated risk of fire.

He explained the conditions are ripe for fires. Firefighters were busy Thursday night as a grassfire broke out in the West Flat near Wesmor Community High School.

Hurd said he couldn’t say for sure how many grass fires will happen this year as it all depends on weather conditions.

Jeff.labine@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @labinereporter