[michaelmicallef]

I can't remember a summer with so little rain. The other problem is they have no manpower should a fire take off. Once a fire reaches a certain size provincial crews might not be enough to handle things and a request for out of Provence crews goes out. Which there are not many of since mid July with all the other fires in the country. Why they waited so long to close these areas seems odd to say the least. But after the Fort Mac fire it does not surprise me that there are politics governing some of the closesures timing. If not than someone should be fired because they are not doing there job protecting the Provence's resources. And that will be the voters job come next election. Plus hunter's are not as responsible as other back country users, everyone knows that. I hope that's not really how they think. Or do they?hmmmm. If you really want to know the answer just see how long they extend the fire crew members contracts. One would think that if the fire situation is still that severe into October to keep a closure in effect for that long, than it would justify extending fire crews contracts into October too. ( typically fire crew contracts end in mid September and are extended on a week by week basis depending on the fire hazard) plus many crew members are students so staffing becomes an issue into the fall. I should also mention that the length of day , relative humidity and night time temps also have a bearing on fire hazard and activity . I did this for ten years and yes politics has a lot to do with it. That's one of the reasons I got out!