Heavy rain overnight and yesterday has significantly reduced the risk of fire spread and prompted the City of London to lift its ban on open air burning. The bans had been in place since July 16, when the extreme heat and dry conditions prompted the fire department to impose the ban due to increased risk of grass and brush fires.
Earlier in the week, the Ministry of Natural Resources had expressed some concern about the dry conditions within the southwestern region and the lack of significant rainfall to reduce those dry conditions.
“Although hot weather is predicted for the next few days, we believe there has been sufficient rain to reduce the risk to an acceptable level at least for the next week or so”, said London’s deputy fire chief Dan Oldridge in a news release. “We recognize that some people will want to have an open air fire on the long weekend and lifting the ban will allow this to happen, but we still encourage people to follow the requirements in the bylaw to ensure it is done safely.”
London Fire Department is posting open burning information and any notices regarding bans on the front page of its website at www.london.ca/fire. There are also links to the open burning bylaw and facts on safe burning practices available on the site.
