Forest fire danger rises in hot spell
Forest fire danger rises in hot spell
3June 2005
publishedby nb.cbc.ca
FREDERICTON The government issued a forest fire warning Thursdayafter the province’s forests went from being soaking wet to almost bone dry in acouple of days.
As a precaution, it also put a ban on campfires and brush burning.
- RELATED LINK: Forest Fire Watch 2005
Brent Roy, with the Department of Natural Resources, said the recent hot spellhas created what the fire experts call a “cross-over” effect.
“That’s when the humidity is coming down rather rapidly while thetemperature is going up,” Roy said.
“So the humidity is down around 20 per cent today and the temperature isup around 30 degrees when you add some light winds to that, it gives usprime conditions for forest fires.”
In spite of the record-breaking amounts of rain the province has receivedthis spring, New Brunswick’s forest fire season got off to a bad start.
In late April and May, 175 fires broke out. That’s three more than the numberfor all of last year.
Firefighters say there haven’t been any lightning strikes to touch off thosefires. They believe every one of them was the result of human carelessness, mostof by people setting grass fires that get out of control.
