Councillor asks for fire ban in Calgary while smoke hangs over the city

A city councillor says he hopes that while smoke from wildfires west of the city continuesto blow into the Calgary area, the use of backyard fire pitswill be banned.

Coun. Brian Pincott says the air conditions are bad for people with chronic health issues. He believes the city could do its part to help by temporarily banning fire pit use while smoke hangs over the city.

"There are many, many Calgarians out there who struggle with wood smoke every single day," said Pincott.

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"And this time is incredibly challenging with the forest fire, but they struggle normally with backyard fires that neighbours have."

City officials say that while fire bans are in place in areas around Calgary, there are no plans to prohibit open fires in the city, either due to the fire hazard or to health concerns because of smoke.

But that could change, said Kurt Hanson, general manager of community services.

"At this point, we have not gone down that path, but I certainly am prepared to have that discussion as well as with our colleagues elsewhere in the corporation, environmental services, about what it would take to move forward on something of that nature," he told council. "We just simply have not done that in the past."