A wet few days lead to a quiet long weekend for the Okotoks Fire Department.

Okotoks Fire Chief Ken Thevenot

Fire Chief Ken Thevenot says Fire Services dealt with an average amount of calls including the Victoria Day Monday.

"In the last week including the long weekend our service responded to 16 calls," he says. "We had three medical responses, six alarm system activations, a couple of fire pit complaints, two fire responses, ruptured gas lines and one motor vehicle accident."

As of this week compared to last year at this time the department has responded 347 calls instead of last year's 429.

Despite the drop of numerous fire bans in the province Thevenot is reminding residents to before wise even with bans lifted and dryness levels way down.

"We're still concerned, we're still watching it in our area here it's pretty low as we've got a good amount of moisture in the last week and it's just starting to green up more. We'll keep our eye on it as things can dry up quickly here with the wind but today I think we're pretty comfortable with things greening up more.

One of the fire responses the department was called to was a deck fire caused by a barbecue and Thevenot says making sure you clean before your grill can make the difference between burning more than just your dinner.

"Give your barbecue a good cleaning before we start this season if it hasn't been cleaned make sure you get all the extra ash or anything that's debris or creosote inside the barbecue. Just give it a good cleaning so there's nothing there that can flare up on us."

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