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BRFA searching for two new fire guardians

The Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) is looking for two fire guardians for the upcoming fire permit season
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The Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority is looking for two new fire guardians for the upcoming fire permit season. File photo.

BONNYVILLE – The Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) has put a call out for residents in the MD of Bonnyville interested in becoming fire guardians.  

Two fire guardians decided to retire from the volunteer positions, which left vacancies in the Glendon area and Ardmore/Fort Kent.   

According to BRFA fire chief Jay Melvin, fire guardians "issue fire permits to landowners that are doing controlled burnings" from March 1 to Oct. 31, which is also known as fire season.  

“Major wildfire season starts in and around the May 24 weekend and a lot of farmers need to get their crops and fields ready. A lot of times, there’s some burning that needs to happen in their fields,” he explained.

The BRFA provides training for any new fire guardians and Melvin noted the hope is to complete that training in February to ensure the new guardians are ready to go for the beginning of March when permit season begins. 

When a fire guardian receives a call from a landowner interested in burning during the permit season, they go to the property and complete a review of the site. There are a number of aspects being looked at, including weather conditions, and if illegal items are in the burn site.

Melvin noted the top priority is ensuring it’s a "clean burn." 

“We don’t want something burning that lasts for three weeks,” he continued. “We want something that starts in the morning and by the end of the day it’s completely gone. So not a lot of wet wood or organics in with the pile or in the brush or with the burning and obviously looking at the site to make sure that they’re burning doesn’t have the potential to jump to someone else’s land or structure.”  

A fire guardian will work with a landowner to give them options if issues are found.  

“It’s not always a ‘no.’ It’s like ‘okay, we can’t do this but if you do this or this, we can issue the permit.’ A lot of the time, that can be done and a majority of land owners know the process, know the rules, and it’s a relatively easy process to get a fire permit if you need to do some burning outside of any type of fire restrictions that we’d laid in the MD.”   

If approved, the permit is then registered at the local 911 centre to be happening on a certain day, which will then be removed once it’s completed.  

“It really helps out because we know that some of the burning needs to happen but, at the same time, we need to make sure it’s done safely and that we’re not burning where a burn could turn into a large wildfire and get out of control really quickly. The program has been working really well and we’re looking forward to two new citizens that want to help this program.”  

Melvin added, “The permits are time stamped, so it’s for a certain time period. You don’t just get a permit for the entirety of 2021, you get a permit for a specific burn. A landowner may have to get six permits throughout the year and that’s what needs to be done and there’s no cost to the landowner.”

Melvin noted an average year sees anywhere from 350 to 500 permits handed out through the MD of Bonnyville.  

Anyone wishing to apply for the role of fire guardian can forward a resume to [email protected] before Jan. 28.   

Robynne Henry, Bonnyville Nouvelle

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