Residents of Cochrane and Rocky View County are being asked to be extra cautious when it comes to fires at this time of the year. In the span of less than two weeks, Rocky View County Fire Services Chief Bill Clarke estimated there were five grass fires and counting in the area. “It's been up there since things have melted off. There's a lot of areas that are still brown … We haven’t had a lot of rain so it hasn’t really greened up yet," Clarke said. Though a fire advisory — one measure put in place before banning fires outright — has been put in place, there are actions residents can take. Clarke said residents should first respect the fire advisory which bans all burning permits for the time being since the dead grass mixed with heavy winds is creating hazardous conditions. “They’re really big spark producing and the wind picks up and it carries — it doesn't take nothing to light that," Clarke said. Further, if any resident is burning a recreational campfire, Clarke said to always have someone watching over it and have the tools to put it out quickly in case of an emergency. Clarke said careless discarding of cigarettes also played a big role in last fall's fires. "Again, it's the other side. It’s not just what people are doing recreational in their backyard, travelling down the highway to be just a little more careful with you’re smoking materials — don’t discard them out your window of your vehicle," Clarke said. There is no set time or day that the advisory will be lifted. "It depends on how much rain, when we get it, and how quickly things green up," Clarke said.
