Clarification on Fire Ban for SJRFD Jurisdiction

people sitting around a campfire with the text FIRE BAN IN EFFECT

The St. John’s Regional Fire Department wishes to remind all citizens that a fire ban is currently in effect within the Region which includes the City of St. John’s, City of Mount Pearl, and Town of Paradise. The fire ban that is currently in effect will be evaluated and updated by Friday, August 11.

Over the last two days, some have been asking why SJRFD has a fire ban in place and the Provincial Department of Fisheries, Forestry, and Agriculture had the Eastern Avalon Fire Hazard Actual Index map listed as low.

As the information on their site indicates, this is a relative rating of how easy it is to ignite forest vegetation and available fuels, how fast a fire may spread, and how difficult a fire may be to control. Some of the other categories they take into account are human-caused and lightning-caused fires. For Human-caused they look at 1) how receptive the small, thin forest fuels are to ignition and spread and 2) how much human activity is happening in or near the forest creating “ignition sources”.

For SJRFD, we do take the Fire Hazard Forecast into account, but we have a lot of other factors to account for as well. Similar to the human-caused fires, the population density is much greater in our region than in the forest at any given time. We also operate in what is referred to as Wildland Inter-Urban Interface, which is an area containing structures close to or intermingled with forests and grasslands. This puts the risk of a fire starting and spreading along with the resources needed to control and extinguish such a fire at a greater risk. We can all remember not too long ago, in 2018, when residents were evacuated from their homes in Kenmount Terrace due to a forest fire.

Sometimes SJRFD may be operating in the same level as Forestry on the Index, but other times like these past couple of days we can be different. SJRFD will continue to keep the safety of residents, and property in mind for our region and we ask residents to help us in this effort.

Further, St. John’s Regional Fire Department (SJRFD) is reminding residents to be diligent when discarding smoking materials and would like to offer the following smoking safety tips.

Smoking Safety

If you smoke, use only fire safe cigarettes.
If you smoke, smoke outside. Most deaths result from fires that started in living rooms, family rooms, and dens or in bedrooms.
Keep cigarettes, lighters, matches, and other smoking materials up high out of the reach of children, in a locked cabinet.

Put It Out

Use a deep, sturdy ashtray. Place it away from anything that can burn.
Do not discard cigarettes in vegetation such as mulch, potted plants or landscaping, peat moss, dried grasses, leaves or other things that could ignite easily.
Before you throw away butts and ashes, make sure they are out, and dousing in water or sand is the best way to do that.
Please do not discard from a moving vehicle.

In the meantime, SJRFD are asking people to be fire safe when using propane firepits and barbeques, to keep a hose or fire extinguisher handy and follow manufacturers requirements regarding clearances from combustible materials.

The SJRFD will update residents on Friday, August 11.