Fires east of Kikino near GoodFish Lake, in the Venice area, and a blaze at Golden Sands Resort kept firefighters busy through the weekend. Strong winds and very dry ground conditions saw government forestry crews working side by side with municipal fire departments on several blazes. At Golden Sands, strong winds topped a tree into power lines that sparked a blaze. With the Owl River Fire Department already assisting Hylo and Lac La Biche fire crews at a large blaze in the Hylo/Venice area, a crew from the Lac La Biche Fire Department was called out to quickly extinguish the small blaze. Fire officials say that strong winds are expected to continue for the next several days. But more threatening than the winds are the very low relative humidity values across the region. Fire officials say that until area vegetation 'greens up', the fire hazard will remain at extreme levels. Fire bans are in place, and will continue to be enforced through the duration of the dry period.
