Okotoks Fire Services has issued a fire advisory for the town.

An advisory means permitting will be restriced, but campfires are still allowed in campgrounds and backyards. If conditions don't improve there is potential for the advisory to be changed to a complete fire ban.

Ken Thevenot, Okotoks Fire Chief, says residents who live in the newly annexed land fall under the advisory.

"In the MD right now they have a complete fire ban on, but in our annexed area we have a fire advisory for those individuals, I believe it's up to approximately 100 home owners in those areas, those people would fall under our fire advisory."

The advisory also comes out of respect to the wildfires in Banff and BC and the poor air quality in town due to the smoke from those fires.

Thevenot says the department is preparing to help our neighbors out if requested.

"With the fires southwest of Banff they potentially could be requesting some assistance so at this time we're actually gathering a resource list from our region that we're going to put in to the Province to have available resources if needed and called for to go to Banff and to the BC fires."

Residents are also being asked to be cautious of ATV and dirt bike use and to stick to main trails where there's no long grass as they could potentially spark a fire. Cigarette butts should also be properly disposed of to avoid grass fires.

For more information on fire advisories and bans in Okotoks click here.

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