The City of Yorkton is now under a modified fire ban.
Fire Chief with the Yorkton Fire Protective Services Trevor Morrissey says that means all burning is prohibited between the hours of 11 p.m. and 11 a.m.
However, people are still allowed to use an approved fire pit during the day between the hours of 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.
“We want people to enjoy their fire pits, but we don’t see a reason to be burning between 11 at night and 11 in the morning,” Morrissey said, adding a permit is required for using a fire pit.
“When you get that, you get the regulations for your pit. It talks about the thickness of steel, the covering that needs to be on it, the clearance to – what we consider – combustibles so grass, your fence,” Morrissey explained of the definition of a fire pit acceptable in Yorkton.
“We also talk about brick fire pits so that embers can’t pass through it and light weeds on fire or dry grass, those sorts of things.”
Meantime, the R.M.s of Orkney and Wallace do not have a fire ban in place anymore, thanks in part to the shot of rain last night (Mon).
Morrissey says the fire ban for the two R.M.s “were particular to wildland burning and large brush.”
“We got a little bit of rain. Soil moisture is a little better right now, but we fear that if something gets away on us we don’t want it to harm harvestable crops right now, so we’ve lifted it…but we’re monitoring winds, temperature and humidity, and if warranted we’ll be putting it back on.” Morrissey added.
The Yorkton Fire Chief says for a look at information regarding local fire bans, residents can check out the City of Yorkton website or the Yorkton Fire Protective Services Facebook Page.