I live close to Sandy Beach, aka Black Creek Provincial Park. Several years ago high water killed off trees which had grown too close to the waterline. This early spring Ontario Parks cut some of these trees off and shoved them into the edge of the forest.
Even though campfires at the beach are not allowed we witness them on a daily basis during the summertime. In my mind one spark could easily ignite these dead trees at the edge and cause a larger wildfire. Hence I reported this increased fire hazard to the local fire chief, who came out and inspected it and forwarded my email to the supervisor of Ontario Parks.
Fast forward several months; a small crew of Ontario Parks workers were there today to dig out some grass bushels (not quite sure why). When quizzed about the dead tree issue I was told this was part of nature and they had no intention of doing anything about it (I guess part of nature was also the chainsaw cutting these trees down). The preventative part of Ontario Parks was to install a beautiful sign (there are already 4 signs) with a “no campfires allowed” symbol.
I called the fire department during the drought period last year reporting campfires at the beach, which the department diligently responded to.
I sincerely hope we don’t have a wildfire here on our beautiful peninsula!
What should we do prevent wildfires?
Dominik Franken
