Rash Of Fires Prompts Call For Change In Policy

Rash Of Fires Prompts Call For Change In Policy

Friday, July 04, 2008 at 13:31

A La Ronge woman is urging the provincial government to do a cost-benefit analysis on the so-called “let it burn” policy.

Susie Carle has several family members fighting a forest fire in an area on the Churchill River called Fish River.

Carle is upset that Saskatchewan Environment won’t lend its assistance in helping them protect an area she says is of important historical and ancestral value to her family and many other northern Aboriginal citizens.

She argues a policy that allows forest fires to grow too large to fight by the time they approach communities and other values has to be scrapped.

Carle also wonders how much it costs to transport, house and feed 2,000 evacuees compared to “having ground crews in to do their jobs”.

According to Carle, her requests to speak directly to the head of Saskatchewan’s fire protection program have been turned down.