Prescott’s Renny Rayner says the amount of rainfall in the forecast for the next few days isn’t enough to warrant lifting total burn bans across South Grenville.
Right now, Prescott, Augusta and Edwardsburgh-Cardinal have all prohibited burn barrels, campfires, brush fires and all other open-air burning.
“Although we did have some rain recently, what we really require is a soaking-type rain,” explains Rayner, Prescott’s Fire Chief. “The one we had the other day, with the thunderstorm, it doesn’t really soak in. It basically runs off because the ground is so dry, it just won’t penetrate.”
Augusta’s Fire Chief, Rob Bowman, agrees. “We received about five millimetres [on Wednesday,] and the day before we received less than one millimetre, which is nowhere near enough to remove the burn ban.”
Edwardsburgh-Cardinal Fire Chief Brian Moore is less certain. “The weather is unpredictable at best,” he says, “so I’m really not in a position to say what’s going to happen with our burn ban at the moment.”
You can view updates on all three municipalities’ total burn bans by visiting their websites.