WATERTON PARK, AB – If you were planning on going to Waterton and hoping to have a fire, that’s not going to happen.
Parks Canada has now issued a complete burning ban in the national park here in southwest Alberta and that means all open fires there are now off limits.
Waterton’s Locke Marshall says the fire risk with the park is extreme.
“Lighting or maintaining an open wood or briquette fire in the park is strictly prohibited at the moment,” says Marshall. “We really encourage people to plan ahead by bringing a propane stove or BBQ for cooking. Portable wood-burning stoves are not permitted,” says Marshall.
It has become extremely dry in and around Waterton over the past month especially. Waterton has record less than 1 mm of rainfall, 0.7 mm to be exact, for this entire month of July so far. That, coupled with some very hot and windy days, has increased the wildfire risk to dangerous levels.
Parks Canada issued a fire ban for Banff National Park earlier this week because of continued hot, dry and windy weather.
