The fire ban for the entire M.D. of Foothills continues this week as the risk for grass and forest fires is still very high.

Fire Chief Jim Smith says the ban, which has been in place for about two weeks, will stay until there is enough moisture.

"We're looking for significant moisture, and we haven't seen that," he says. "We're looking for a good, long rain over several days in order to get the relative humidity up."

Although it seems a little early, he says a fire ban at this time of year is becoming more common.

"It is very common this time of year to have what we call grass fires, what we called green up, a lot of cured grass does cause a lot of problems and issues for the fire department. Normally we don't have a fire ban but the last couple of years we've had a fire ban at this particular time of year."

Smith says even a short but heavy dump of rain wont be enough to lift the ban.

"It's not necessarily the amount, but the duration of the rain. If we have a large rain over a short period of time, it's not going to do anything. If we have a small amount of rain over a longer period of time its going to do a lot more."

The Okotoks Fire Department is reminding everyone to dispose of their smoking materials properly, and avoid long grass when driving as any spark can cause a blaze.

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