The dry-season has already effected land in the Unity area. The community and surrounding RM's are all currently under a fire ban, after Unity Fire and Rescue responded to multiple grass fires in less than a weeks time.
The Town of Unity announced their ban on Friday afternoon, stating that there is to be "absolutely no open wood fires" inside Town limits. This means residents cannot burn leaves, branches, and other yard waste, though the use of natural gas and propane appliances are still permitted.
Before that announcement on Friday, it was announced on Thursday that the RM of Round Valley was under a ban. The RM of Tramping Lake, and RM of Grass Lake followed suit on Friday with bans of their own, as you can view the government's interactive map here.
The Unity region is the only local area with a ban on, as of April 15 (Screengrab via fire ban map/gis.saskatchewan.ca) The bans are active following a few different field blazes in the area. Back on April 11 the Unity Volunteer Fire Department responded to an afternoon grass fire near Winter, a response helped out by locals. Another two calls came on April 12, as a response took place just after 1:00 PM for a grass fire west of town, and then shortly after the department was called out to another grass fire near Winter.
The next grass fire came about 24 hours later on Saturday afternoon, north of Unity, as fire crews responded to reports of a vegetation fire. Thankfully things have seemed to slow down, as there has been no other activity of note since Saturday's latest call.
Thankfully for the situation, some rain is expected to fall to begin the week. Though more precipitation seems slated for the Kindersley area, anything that trails off to the north will be beneficial after what was a busy weekend for the local fire department.
Thu, Apr 25, 9:30 AM
