Fire Season Starts

As of Tuesday, April 1, burning permits are required in the counties of Queens, Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, Annapolis, Kings and Lunenburg. Permits are required in all other counties beginning April 15. Fire season continues through to Oct. 15.

Domestic burning permits cost $5. Industrial permits cost $50. These fees are unchanged from last year. Permits can be obtained from local Natural Resources offices and at some municipal fire departments.

Last winter produced normal amounts of snowfall, which led to a slow start to the fire season in 2002. The first fire of 2002 occurred on March 26. Nova Scotia's forests made it through the year with less damage than previous years because of the wet weather throughout the early part of the season.

Dry weather in late July resulted in a ban on open fires beginning Aug. 15 and continuing until Sept. 12. In total, 267 fires burned 211 hectares of wildland.

Fire prevention is part of the Department of Natural Resources' fire-fighting strategy. The fire weather index is posted daily on the department's Web site during fire season. This information and more is available at: www.gov.ns.ca/natr/protection/wildfire/fwi/default.htm .