The wet weather today has lessened the threat of forest fire in southern Manitoba.
Tom Mirus, manager of the Manitoba Conservation fire program, said he expects all nine forest and brush fires reported in Manitoba to be under control by the end of the day.
Of nine fires burning across the province, five fires were in the eastern region, two fires were in the Interlake region, one was in the western region and one was in the northwestern region. Only the one in the western region was classed by fire crews as being out of control, said Mirus, and he said it would be in hand by Saturday.
"We won’t be worried for a couple of days," he said.
"We’re going to have green-up, and green-up is wonderful. It’s green grass, it’s the leaves fleshing out...and that’s going to make a real difference now."
Mirus said no communities, homes or values are currently threatened - including in Vassar, a community of 80 people about 130 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg where brush fire has been contained by fire crews since Tuesday.
To date this year, about 4300 hectares of land has burned in fires across the province. The majority is in the Vassar area, where about 3,800 hectares is reportedly burned.
"The Vassar fire is really looking good," said Mirus.
About 100 firefighters are currently working in that area, said a Manitoba Conservation press release.
Mirus said all fires have been caused by human activity, and the public was asked to refrain from using their all-terrain vehicles until rain occurred. Showers have already occurred today in western and central parts of Manitoba.
Mirus said he anticipated a normal fire season in Manitoba, translating to about 550 fires in the province over the spring and summer months.
Open fires are prohibited from April 1 to November 15 unless a burning permit is obtained, or the fire is in an approved fire pit like a campfire grate in a provincial campsite.
"Our campgrounds aren’t that problematic, they’ve got proper fire pits and the type of people who tend to use our parks and use those fire pits, we don’t really have the problems with," he said. "It’s outside our parks that a lot of our problems occur."
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