Regina Fire works with encampments on winter warming fire safety

There are many warming shelters in Saskatchewan that people can go to when the weather takes a turn for the worst. The problem is that many of them only have a limited capacity.

When those shelters fill up, many people are left to fend for themselves. Leaving many to resort to the use of fires to stay warm.

Randy Ryba is a fire marshal with Regina Fire, and he said that fire crews try and work alongside encampments to ensure everyone is safe.

“We work diligently with the encampments that we know of. There’s a couple of large ones in the city. There’s a bunch all over the city that we’re not aware of until we either respond to a call for service or we happen to drive by. So yes, we’re working with them the best we can,” said Ryba.

He said that there are a lot of differences when it comes to responding to a warming fire rather than a regular backyard fire.

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“A lot of the unregulated fires in our encampments are not always the safest route. There’s always a risk when unregulated burning happens within the city. So as we say, we work and chat with the folks regularly to make sure that the fire pits come into compliance so that everybody is safe,” said Ryba.

When it comes to the regulations regarding these warming fires, there is a set of laws in place that Ryba said must be followed.

“We maintain that at all times, three meters to every property line, a minimum of three meters from structure, including tents, tarps, and buildings. Of course, the size of the fire matters, the container that it’s burning in matters, a screen, and the type of fuel that they’re burning,” said Ryba.

When it comes to that fuel, there are only a handful of choices that are allowed to be burned. Those include clean, seasoned wood, charcoal briquettes, and factory fire logs. Other things, such as plastics, are forbidden as they give off carcinogens and can cause serious harm.

As for the number of these fires in our province, Ryba said that they seem to be similar to the last several years.

“As far as the number of calls for service for these types of fire pits in these unregulated areas, it’s about the same as it has been for the last few years. As soon as it gets cool, people need to warm themselves, and when it gets cold, it becomes even more dangerous for the folks to be outdoors, so they have to have some sort of way to warm,” said Ryba.