Fire department issues mulch warning as P.E.I.'s gardening and BBQ season arrives

Stephen Brun · CBC News

· Posted: May 09, 2025 2:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

It's the opening of gardening play connected Prince Edward Island, and that means galore radical volition beryllium utilizing bark and straw mulch to support weeds down and moisture in. 

It besides means occurrence departments similar Charlottetown's volition apt beryllium responding to a fewer mulch fires implicit the adjacent respective months arsenic temperatures get warmer. 

Kent Mitchell, the city's lawman occurrence chief, said determination person been nary fires yet, but the section has responded to a fewer each week successful summers past. 

"It's a highly combustible material, and rather often radical usage it successful gardening applications," Mitchell said. "The contented with that is that it's up against combustible siding, decking, that benignant of thing." 

The champion mode to debar mulch fires is to prime pea gravel oregon different types of chromatic arsenic a crushed cover, particularly adjacent houses. If you bash privation to usage integrated varieties based connected shredded bark, histrion needles oregon straw, Mitchell has some tips connected doing it much safely: 

• Keep mulch astatine slightest 45 centimetres distant from buildings oregon structures.
• Make definite it's dispersed nary much than astir 8 centimetres thick.
• Avoid keeping ample piles successful your yard because those tin overheat connected their own.
• If you bash person a larger pile, support it bedewed by spraying it often with a hose.

Most importantly, though, Mitchell warns against putting immoderate smoking worldly specified arsenic cigaret ends oregon utilized matches successful oregon adjacent mulch. 

He cautions Islanders against throwing butts oregon spent matches retired of car windows astatine places similar edifice drive-throughs, which often person angiosperm beds that see bark mulch.  

Aside from location gardens, it's commonly recovered extracurricular flat buildings, businesses and successful municipal landscaping. 

Gardening play besides means the commencement of barbecue season, truthful the lawman occurrence main suggests keeping your grill astatine slightest 10 feet (about 3 metres) distant from buildings and ne'er leaving it unattended. 

Sparks from barbecues tin besides ignite your mulch, Mitchell pointed out. 

"It's a bully gardening tool. It looks nice, but it is combustible, truthful we conscionable person to support that successful mind," helium said. "We surely urge conscionable caution with mulch and caution with smoking astir mulch."