A central Nova Scotia woman has been fined nearly $29,000 for starting an unattended outdoor fire, despite the nationwide fire ban. province.
Officers attended the scene of an open fire on private property in the community of Lantz, about 50 kilometers north of Halifax, on Friday afternoon, RCMP Corporal Chris Marshall said. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Once there, the police found an unsupervised fire burning in a hearth a few meters from a wooded area.
“An officer ended up using a garden hose he found on the property to put out the flames,” Corporal Marshall said.
A woman then came out of the house on the property. Officers immediately issued him a ticket for starting a fire within 1,000 feet of the woods during a ban in effect, which resulted in a $28,872.50 fine.
Nova Scotia imposed an open fire ban on May 29 due to numerous wildfires already raging across the province that have forced thousands of people to evacuate.
A few days later, Premier Tim Houston increased the severity of the fines from $237.50 to $25,000. According to Corporal Marshall, after administrative costs are added, the total amount of the fine is $28,872.
Meanwhile, firefighting crews were still busy Saturday battling the largest wildfire in Nova Scotia’s history.
According to local authorities, the Barrington Lake fire is still not under control, but it is no longer spreading. On Saturday, around 130 firefighters were still hard at work fighting it.
The flames linked to this fire have already engulfed 234 square kilometers of forest since May 27.
On Saturday, helicopters began using infrared sensors to detect hotspots of the still-burning fires, according to a statement released by the provincial government. Authorities hope these tools will help ground crews put out the blazes for good.
More than 22,000 people have been forced from their homes by fires near Barrington Lake and in the Upper Tantallon neighborhood of suburban Halifax.
Most evacuation orders were lifted on Friday, but the fires had had time to destroy about 211 homes and cabins.