River Valley fire ban in effect

Lethbridge Fire has placed a fire ban on all open fires in the city’s River Valley. Chief Fire Marshal Heath Wright says when it comes to placing a ban, they look to see how much moisture is down at the river bottom before deciding to input a ban in place. Right now they have no idea how long the ban will last for.

“We have no indication right now just because the weather type, the weather controls whether the fire ban is released or not because on strictly on the data that we collect from the forestry and agriculture. We look for certain data that ranges from low all the way to extreme fire risk. We also look for ISI, which is Initial Spread Index, which doesn’t mean much to the public but what it means is how fast a fire could spread through the vegetation and the fuel that’s down there,” said Chief Fire Marshal Heath Wright with the Lethbridge Fire Department.

Those with backyard fire pits are still allowed to be used in the river valley as it falls under the open burning bylaw.