There’s still snow on the ground in many parts of the province but brush fires are already becoming a concern.

Over the weekend the Bay Roberts Fire Rescue responded to its first brush fire of the year in Port de Grave.

A picture posted to social media shows that the fire burnt a sizable area, and the department says it did come close to homes before it was put out.

Because of this incident and other recent brush fires in the region, the Heart’s Content Volunteer Fire Department has issued a fire ban for the towns of Heart’s Content and New Perlican.

Fire Chief, Kyle Piercey says even though it was a very snowy winter, the ground cover is still “very dry,” and windy conditions can cause a blaze to take off very quickly.

Piercey says things that use propane, such as a BBQ are fine, but they want people to refrain from using fire pits, and burning garbage and brush for the time being.

“We’re just taking every precaution that we can because I’m sure no one wants another Kingston fire on their hands or a bad situation that could be like that.” He notes that the first really bad fire of last year’s historic season was the Adam’s Cove fire in May, which is only a couple of weeks away.