FIRE ADVISORY

Witless Bay Fire Department wishes to advise all citizens that a fire ban remains in effect within the Region which includes Bay Bulls, Witless Bay, Mobile, Tors Cove, Burnt Cove, St. Michaels, & Bauline South. The fire ban will remain in effect until further notice. This includes backyard fire pits, chimineas, charcoal BBQs and open fires. Propane firepits are permitted.

This current decision was made through consultation with all Fire Departments within the Northeast Avalon and information gathered from the Department of Forestry. Through these consultations, and in evaluating the current conditions and upcoming forecasts, there continues to be a high concern of fire risk, given the low rates of rainfall in comparison to the dry temperatures over the last two weeks.

Witless Bay Fire Department will continue to monitor and adjust the Fire Advisory as needed, keeping the safety of residents, and property in mind for our region. We ask residents to help us in this effort, and we encourage everyone to monitor our Facebook page for further updates.

Further, with everything being so dry, Witless Bay Fire Department is reminding residents to be diligent when discarding smoking materials and would like to offer the following smoking safety tips.

Smoking Safety

• If you smoke, use only fire safe cigarettes.

• If you smoke, smoke outside. Most deaths result from fires that started in living rooms, family rooms, and dens or in bedrooms.

• Keep cigarettes, lighters, matches, and other smoking materials up high out of the reach of children, in a locked cabinet.

• Put It Out

• Use a deep, sturdy ashtray. Place it away from anything that can burn.

• Do not discard cigarettes in vegetation such as mulch, potted plants or landscaping, peat

• moss, dried grasses, leaves or other things that could ignite easily.

• Before you throw away butts and ashes, make sure they are out, and dousing in water or sand is the best way to do that.

• Please do not discard from a moving vehicle.

In the meantime, Witless Bay Fire Department are asking residents to be fire safe when using propane firepits and barbeques.

We ask you to keep a hose or fire extinguisher handy and follow manufacturers requirements regarding clearances from combustible materials.

The Witless Bay Fire Department will monitor this situation closely and will update residents of any changes to the ban.

For more information contact:

Fire Chief: Jack Gatherall

Witless Bay Fire Department

chiefwbvfd@gmail.com

709:334-3407