Letting illegal burns go unpunished comes at a huge cost

Firefighters have been on the scene of fires across the province over the last few weeks. Those and the three raging out of control are all likely the result of human activity. When there seems to be no penalty for violating the fire ban, it ends up costing all of us. And some, a lot more than others.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Premier Tim Houston Stay the Blazer's homemoment happened this week when he said,
don't be burning right now, notas flashy or as catchy, and it
won't likely be put on T shirtsor turned into Internet memes. But you
could hear his frustration as he toldus all to stop burning stuff for flicking
cigarette butts. Because the ongoing outof control forest fires raging in three communities
across Nova Scotia, there were stillillegal burns being reported, and the anger

(00:22):
is because people aren't listening, andit feels a lot like it did during
the pandemic when people were being chargedfor violating public health orders. When someone
feels a rule shouldn't apply to them, it's an affront to the social contract.
And when someone lights a fire thatgets away from them, that's a
real and present danger to all thepeople around them. And even more importantly,
from my seat in the fire engine, is putting other people in danger

(00:43):
who have to deal with the repercussions. And things are so desperate right now.
Fire departments are responding to nine oneone calls about well nervous people smelling
smoke in their homes and yards.People calling nine to one a boat seeing
smoke, worried it's an out ofcontrol wildfire that could threaten their homes or
property. And in most cases it'sthe smoke from the massive Shelburne County blaze
or coming from the huge fire andtan talent. But what isn't understood by

(01:07):
many is that volunteers across the provinceare fighting small fires every single day.
It's just that the massive evacuations andloss of property are the big stories right
now, the big focus. AndI could harp on about the numbers of
the stories I've done, or thepeople I've spoken with about the risks of
burning grass in the spring or illegalburns that happen all the time in our
province, and how a lot ofpeople have no idea it's illegal to burn

(01:30):
any time between eight am and twopm. That's every single day in Nova
Scotia during fire season. And letme repeat that, no fires ever allowed
between eight am and two pm andthis province unless you have an industrial permit.
And now even those are canceled becauseof the tinder dry forests and the
massive piles of unburned fuel left behindby Hurricane Fiona last fall. And it's

(01:53):
the people who know the rules.Who just don't care that need to hear
the message. The woods are closedto all activities because people weren't being careful.
Fishing and hiking and camping all onhold until June twenty fifth, or
until we get enough rain to dousethe fires and reduce the risk. And
of course there are people saying,well, the rules aren't clear, or
they're questioning them, asking well doesit affect me if I want to drive

(02:15):
up to a lake. As formerPremier Stephen McNeil said, quit looking for
loopholes. We all need to understandthe risk and then act responsibly. Nova
Scotia has laws. I mean,people could be fine for violating the fireban,
and it says that if the illegalfire causes a forest fire, you
could face up to a fifty thousanddollars fine and be responsible for the cost

(02:35):
of putting it out and any damagesthat are caused by it. Now,
what do you think your insurance companyis going to say if you're out of
control brush fire burn down all yourneighbor's homes. Now, I don't know
if anyone's ever been charged under thatlaw. Our fire department hasn't had any
success in pushing for a ticket foran illegal burn. Not much. Do
you think this is all going tocost us? Stop burning stuff, or

(02:57):
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