With backyard campfires and other recreational burning becoming more popular as things warm up, Sarnia Fire wants to ensure residents stay safe and avoid being fined.
Fire Life Safety Educator Mike Otis said the service deals with a lot of recreational burning issues, sometimes daily. He said they have a checklist to determine if a fire is compliant.
"Some of the key things you'll find on the checklist, it has to be three metres/10 feet from any structure, you always have to have a source of extinguishment on hand -- say, a garden hose -- it has to be supervised at all times."
Otis said fines can kick in after someone breaks the rules and receives a warning.
"We don't show up the first time and say 'oh you missed this on the checklist, here's your fine.' We're always about education over enforcement," he said. "We have to put it out and make a record of it, because if you have another occurrence, let's say, there can be fines involved."
Otis said when the service is called to a recreational burn, more times than not, it's not a big deal.
"Maybe they're missing one thing or somebody thinks that they're not allowed to do something but we get there and it's perfectly fine. As long as you're following those rules, usually it's not an issue."
For more information click here.
