With hot weather and a lack of significant rain over the last few weeks here in southeastern Manitoba, grass fires are becoming more of a concern.

The Grunthal Fire Department attended a grass fire half a mile north of Grunthal on Road 27E Monday evening. Hanover Fire Chief Paul Wiebe says the call came in around 6:40 p.m.

“The grass fire had been started by some downed power lines so they quickly extinguished the grass fire and waited for Manitoba Hydro to attend. We were on scene for approximately an hour and Manitoba Hydro took care of their power lines.”

Wiebe says right now things are drying up and grass fires are becoming more of a risk.

“If we do not get a substantial amount of rain in the next short while conditions could become a little more intense for grass fires. At this point, we do not feel a burning ban is necessary. We will continue to monitor the situation as we always do and if the need arises, we will not hesitate to implement one.”

Wiebe says the Rural Municipality has taken a number of steps to help minimize the risk of grass fires that have worked very well.

“We do not allow any burning inside our communities and rural residential areas outside an approved fire pit so that has helped a lot. We do not allow any burn barrels in residential areas, all these steps have really helped in reducing the amount of grass fires that we have had to attend.”