Ministry acts on fire review recommendations

MNR Media Release

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TORONTO — The use of research fires has been put on hold until the Ministry of Natural Resources can implement all the recommendations of a recent review into a research fire that became a wildfire east of Sault Ste. Marie, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay announced today.

“I welcome the recommendations outlined in the review and have directed that action be taken on all of them,” said Ramsay. “We regret the inconvenience to local residents, recreationists and businesses caused by the fire and need to make every effort to stop this from happening again.”

Effective immediately, there will be no further research fires until the review recommendations are fully implemented. The key recommendations include:

A ban on prescribed burns within Restricted Fire Zones
The requirement for independent analysis of predicted fire behaviour and suppression resources in high complexity fires
Revised guidelines for fire suppression.
The research fire was lit by the Ministry of Natural Resources on May 13, 2007, in an area of forest about 90 kilometres north of Thessalon as part of a partnership research effort with the Canadian Forest Service. The fire escaped the boundaries of the burn area and developed into a wildfire that burned about 1,500 hectares. A review team looked at the planning and actions taken on the fire with a view to identifying improvements to the fire management system.

Research fires help provide scientific information on forest fire behaviour and smoke emissions. The data collected supports firefighter and public safety, and provides a better understanding of the role of forest fire in the carbon cycle and ecological sustainability.

The complete review report, as well as an action plan, is available at www.ontario.ca/forestfire.

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