Don’t underestimate early-season wildfire risk, expert urges

It’s only March and there’s even snow on the ground still in some parts of Nova Scotia, but an official with the province’s Department of Natural Resources says it’s not too early for wildfires.

“Spring is when the risk can change the most dramatically,” said Scott Tingley, forest protection manager with DNR. “The spring fire hazard is a lot of grass and the smaller fuels, grass and twigs and things that dry out quickly, on a warm, windy, dry afternoon it can only take a few hours for that grass to dry out.”

Tingley says while the woods might not be “receptive” to fires yet, those early-season grass fires can ignite easily and spread quickly. Tingley said DNR tends to see the most fire between now and early May.

“We definitely want to get the message out to folks to be cautious, and follow those burn restrictions,” he said.

Wildfire risk season in Nova Scotia runs from March 15 to October 15 and during the season no burning of any kind is between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. The provincial burn restriction map is updated daily to then show if people can burn starting at 2 p.m., 7 p.m. or not at all, depending on the fire risk determined that day by officials.

Tingley says DNR has done a lot of work in the time since the Summer 2023 wildfires that impacted Tantallon and Hammonds Plains, as well as the Shelburne area on the south shore.

“We had a formal after-action review, there was a consultants report with recommendations and the department has implemented those,” Tingley said. “We’ve acquired a lot of new equipment, trained people on new equipment, and a lot of recommendations were around internal communications and training, so we’ve certainly made adjustments.”

Much of Nova Scotia is experiencing dry conditions

CityNews weather specialist Allister Aalders says, the federal government’s drought monitor reports Halifax and much of HRM has been “abnormally dry” since June 2024, and during the fall and early winter season a moderate drought was reported.

“As of the end of February the situation had improved somewhat with abnormally dry conditions observed once again in Halifax after being in that moderate drought, but several inland locations were still experiencing moderate drought conditions at the end of February,” Aalders explained.

He notes that the precipitation has been below average since last spring. Recently, January was below average precipitation, while February saw levels closer to normal levels. So far, March is below average as well.

“Certainly if the dry conditions don’t improve over the next several weeks, we could be looking at more long-term issues, not just with the growing season,” Aalders said. “Some people have already been trucking in water since the fall and even during this past winter to maintain their well water levels.”

Similarly, low levels at Lake Major in the fall led to a mandatory period of water restrictions in Dartmouth. Aalders says if conditions remain dry there’s a greater risk of a wildfire igniting, and can impact the rate at which a wildfire can spread.