The St. Paul Grazing Reserve won’t have to pay the full costs associated with a large fire that grew out of control in April, after County of St. Paul council passed a motion to approve the change in invoice.
Council discussed a request from the grazing reserve board that would see the grazing reserve pay the “out of pocket” costs, rather than the costs tallied according to the county’s bylaw. CAO Sheila Kitz said those “out of pocket” costs came to about $3,000, and the grazing reserve also recommended donating an additional $3,000 to be split between the two responding fire departments that attended the fire – St. Paul and Ashmont.
The full cost that would have otherwise been invoiced, according to the county’s bylaw, would have been about $19,000.
“The St. Paul grazing reserve has always been good to work with,” said Coun. Glen Ockerman, during last week’s regular council meeting.
Kitz said the county normally tallies costs associated with out of control fires as per its bylaw, which gives a per hour fee for each piece of equipment that tended to the fire.
But, people can object to the bill, and in this case, the grazing reserve had sent a letter of request before receiving an invoice. She said council considers cases “based on the merit of the request.”
Kitz added that the grazing reserve had a burning permit, and on the day the fire was started, conditions appeared acceptable for a controlled burn.
According to grazing reserve president Leonard Demchuk, members left the controlled burn at about 6 a.m. on Wednesday, after checking the weather forecast, which appeared to be calm. But, when winds started to pick up, the fire began to spread.
“So, it fooled us,” said Demchuk. He added that he was thankful to everyone who helped control the fire. “The people that were out there did an amazing job for the whole area, really.”
Twenty-nine fire fighters responded to the blaze.
Demchuk said the grazing reserve does controlled burns as a way of cleaning up deadfall. Dead trees and other things left by Mother Nature can create their own fire hazard, and also takes away pastureland for livestock using the reserve.
“Nature has used fire forever to clean up the land,” said Demchuk.
The fire was also discussed during a delegation during last week’s council meeting with an area resident whose home and land was located close to where the fire reached.
The fire came within half a mile of Jessie Williams’ home, heard council.
“It was very scary, very dry,” said Williams. She explained that fire fighters had to use her land to battle the fire, and cut nearby community pasture fence. A fire truck also go stuck on some of Williams’ land, which caused damage to her property.
She requested that council repair culverts that were damaged, along with fixing ruts made by the fire truck that was stuck.
“I thank you for hearing me out,” said Williams.
“It is a scary situation,” said Ockerman, adding, “I’m glad we have the fire department with a great group of guys to protect our properties.”
Reeve Steve Upham said he could sympathize with Williams, having lost his family home to fire when he was just 12 years old.
“I understand what you’re feeling,” said Upham.
A combination of rain and the volunteer firefighters working throughout the night kept the fire away from Williams’ property.
Williams said she prayed for the wind to stop, and at about 1 a.m., “the heavens just opened and it poured. And I thanked God.”
After the delegation, council agreed to look at the culverts that were damaged, and repair them as needed. But, councillors did not agree to fix the ruts on Williams’ land.
“I’m not supportive of this at all,” said Coun. Frank Sloan, adding it would be precedent setting for the county to fix the ruts, and he personally remembers similar situations where the county didn’t repair damage sustained while battling fires.
Council agreed to pass the matter on to administration to refer the request on to the grazing reserve board. And after the meeting, Kitz confirmed that the grazing reserve agreed to repair the ruts.
The grazing reserve fire burned a perimeter of about 3,100 acres and kept crews busy over the course of two days. But, Demchuk says not all the area inside the perimeter was burnt.
The grazing reserve is used by a group of about 45 livestock producers.
Although Williams did express some concern about evacuating her home when she spoke to council, Kitz said the county did not feel an evacuation was in order while the fire burned. The fire also came within about half a mile of residences at Lac Bellevue, and spread toward the Evergreen landfill, but did not reach it.
The county put a fire restriction in place around the same time the grazing reserve fire grew out of control, which means no new fire permits have been issued since.
