A traditional First Nation ceremony that got out of hand will end up costing the Yellow Quill First Nation.
On Sunday, a grass fire started in the RM of Corman Park during preparations for a sweat lodge ceremony, the RM’s administrator Andrew Tittemore said.
“There was a traditional sweat that was occurring on the site, where they were using a fire to heat the rocks and then the fire itself got out of control,” Tittemore said.
Those involved in the ceremony called 9-11 and crews from Saskatoon and Warman were called out to fight the fire.
Only two days earlier, the RM had put a fire ban in place due to dry conditions.
Billing the private land owner for fire services is common practice for RMs, Tittemore said.
“In this case with the land being privately held by Yellow Quill band through their holding company they would be responsible for all costs associated with that firefighting effort,” he said.
Yellow Quill’s Chief, John Machiskinik, had no issues with that, saying he recalls instances where the band’s had to pay for fire services.
Tittemore emphasizes that the ground is incredibly dry right now and that there is fire ban in place in the RM.
Currently, there are no provincial fire bans in place.