
Firefighters battle a grass fire in Winnipeg on Sunday, April 29, 2018. (@UFFW867 / TWITTER)
Winnipeg firefighters battled two more grass fires overnight.
The first happened at about 3 p.m. Thursday in a ditch in the 800 block of Mission Street in the industrial area. The fire damaged a hydro pole. No one was hurt and the cause is under investigation.
The second happened in the area of Rillwood Place in St. Vital at about 10 p.m. Crews responded to a brush fire, which caused no damage or injuries. That, too, is under investigation.
The City of Winnipeg still has a burn ban in place, including backyard firepits. In addition, the WFPS will not be issuing consumer fireworks permits until Winnipeg’s dry conditions improve.
“We typically see a number of consumer fireworks permit applications leading up to long weekends. However, in light of the tinder dry conditions, we are not issuing consumer fireworks permits at this time,” said Mark Reshaur, Assistant Chief with WFPS.
“Setting off fireworks in such dry conditions elevates the risk of dangerous grass and brush fires, which is why we’ve taken this measure.”
This brings the number of grass and bush fires up to 57 for 2018.