Leader staff

It was a slow week on the forest protection side of things last week – just the way most people prefer it. The fire hazard went from high to low, and the number of new fires was very small.

However, lightning season kicked off with a few bangs, and at least one fire was started by a strike. The 26th fire in the Slave Lake Forest Area started north of Utikuma Lake on the night of May 24. It was the first lightning-caused fire of the season and didn’t get very far. The next day it was being held, at .2 hectares.

It was one of two fires that started that evening; the other was a small grass fire near Grouard, which was quickly extinguished.

So far this season, 26 fires have burned 167 hectares in the Slave Lake forest area.