Fiona debris fuelling concerns about a summer of forest fires on P.E.I.

Prince Edward Island's legislated fire season starts March 15, and forestry officials are concerned that debris from post-tropical storm Fiona has created conditions that could lead to more forest fires.

The storm took down a lot of trees when it sweptacross the Island in September.

While many of the larger trees have been cleaned up, there are still lotsthat were damaged, and plenty of branches and smaller pieces of wood piled up.

That's something Mike Montigny calls fuel loading. He's the manager of field services for the Department of Environment's forests, fish and wildlife division.

"The fuel load is something that we haven't seen in many years," said Montigny.

He said although thereare other factors involved in causing a fire, including relative humidity and precipitation,fuel is something they're concerned about.

"The fine fuels are the things that would help get a fire started. The larger fuels would continue to fuel that fire and make it burn hotter. And once that fire starts to get up into the crowns of the trees, then it's going to be past what we can deal with."

Montigny said they have trained staff and specialized equipment to help fight fires. As well, they workclosely with volunteer fire departments.

There are some areas that certainly carry the right ingredients to make things tricky. Mike Montigny

The departmentcan also tap into firefighting resources across Canada, though that's something that's rarely happened.

"It's probably been 15 or 20 years since we've brought in helicopters from Nova Scotia," said Montigny.

"We export staff to other provinces and we're seeing a decline in the fires that are here, but we're able to keep our skills up by using those skills across the country," he said.

Fire season preparations

Montigny said the department is making sure to have people ready and available 24 hours a day throughout the fire season.

It will also be promoting an education and prevention campaign.

"We're going to be working with the volunteer fire brigades, the municipalities, the fire marshal's office to help landowners and homeowners ensure that they have the tools and the skills to be able to keep their own houses safe, to reduce that fire load around their houses," he said.

Montigny said the department isusing a fire smart program, and there are resources available online. People can also call if they have questions.

"If a landowner can take some responsibility and help do some of these simple analyses themselves, we can help sort of facilitate and help them put the work together," he said.

"Because if there happens to be a wildland fire in and around their house and they are able to take some of these preventative actions beforehand, the probability that they're going to lose their structure house, a barn, a church, community hall is going to be greatly reduced."

Watching the weather

Montigny said if there's plenty of rain from May until September, fuel load might not be a big concern. But he'd love to see more snow and rain falling now too.

As for those giant piles of wood debris that's been collected, Montigny said there are some areas such as southern Kings County, along the North Shore and Bonshaw that they are keeping a close eye on.

"There are some areas that certainly carry the right ingredients to make things tricky and we're aware of that... We're going to focus on those and prioritize those," he said.

"If a wildland fire does happen to start, we want to make sure that the people are safe. That's the most important thing."