Grass fires an ongoing concern for Campbellton firefighters

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The Campbellton Fire Department is once again facing the challenge of putting out intentionally set grass fires.

Public Information Officer Andre Bernard said the department has been called out numerous times already to extinguish illegal fires, which so far have not posed a threat to neighbouring homes or businesses. 

“We’ve been called out I’d say seven or eight times to grass fires in the last week or so,” said Bernard. “They always seem to be in the same locations around the same time of day.”

Firefighters were most recently called to the hill beside Sugarloaf Senior High School on Dover Street. It was at least the third time they’ve responded to a grass fire in the same spot, which is next door to the public housing on Tingley Crescent.

“I don’t know what it is about that area but we are there a couple of times every year,” said Bernard. “We’re called there, to the side of the highway up by the hospital and down in Richardsville almost every year since I started six years ago.”

Bernard said it’s not clear who sets the fires nor why.

“It’s a nuisance call for us…we have to respond which takes away firefighters in the event we have to go to something serious.”

He said the firefighters usually stay on scene and control the fire, allowing it to continue burning the grass.

“We stay and let the fires continue so all the dead grass gets burned so we won’t have to return again to the same spot if someone lights another one,” said Bernard.

Fire Chief Rick MacNaughton said in the years he’s been with the department there have been some close calls.

“Each year we go through the same thing, tying up resources that may be required for a more urgent incident. The people setting these fires do not seem to care that people downwind of the fire may have a respiratory illness that may be affected by the smoke, or maybe have a shed or fence that could be affected if not caught early enough.

“With high winds and a lot of dry grass, these fires can spread very quickly, consuming everything in their path. In certain areas in the city, we need to have some buildings shut down ventilation systems so that the smoke is not sucked into the buildings.”

Bernard said that he had not heard of other departments within the Campbellton Regional Municipality responding to large grass fires.

“Yeah, for some reason, this seems to be an issue only in Campbellton and usually only in those few places.”

Roger Smith, fire chief for the Dalhousie Fire Department, said his firefighters have not responded to a large grass fire for at least the last couple of years.

On its website, the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development provides data on grass fires that show it does little to aid in new growth.