The drought might be over but that doesn’t mean the risk of forest fires is.
“It’s still incredibly dry out there,” Bowen Island Fire Chief Ian Thompson said on Tuesday morning. “Even this rain hasn’t done a lot.”
With a return to summer-like weather forecasted for later this week, he’s keeping many of the island’s fire restrictions in place.
While you can have a barbecue on your own property, no campfires or charcoal briquette barbecues are allowed in public places.
Thompson will reassess the situation next week and, until then, he reminds islanders that there are no backyard clearings and burns allowed until October 15.
And it’s not yet time to give your house or boat a good power wash.
The water restrictions in the King Edward Bay and Bluewater neighbourhoods are still in place, as well as a recommendation for water conservation on all other municipal water systems.
Public works superindentent Bob Robinson says recent rains have had a negligible impact on the Bluewater and King Edward Bay wells that are 500 feet below ground.
Up until August 26 this summer, there was only 8mm of rain. Between August 28 and 31, we got 104.5mm, and another 10 or so millimetres fell in the first few days of September.
“It will take a lot more rain to recoup” the water in the municipal wells, Robinson says.
All other residents on municipal water systems are recommended to conserve water.
