Brush fire near Hall and Leitrim roads in Carlsbad Springs - Police closed off Russell Rd - fire now under control (October 19).

Ottawa Police and Ottawa Fire were on scene all afternoon on Sunday Oct 19 to contain the fire and control access to the area on Russell Road. A brush fire can be difficult to control and often spreads quickly, involving small, low bushes or the rough land they grow on.

The dry weather has increased the risk of brush fires in many regions.

Ottawa Fire Services announces burn ban for city - As of October 19, All open-air fires are prohibited, including on properties that have an open air fire permit.

OFS responds from 45 stations located across the City of Ottawa. Collectively, these stations provide service to over 950,000 residents across 2,796 square kilometers.

The OFS team is comprised of career fire fighters, volunteer firefighters as well as inspection, education, safety and communications personnel.

When compared to the largest metropolitan fire departments in Canada, OFS serves a geographic area that exceeds the total combined area served by fire services in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary. Additionally, OFS’s coverage is more than four times that of Toronto, Canada’s most populous city.

OFS personnel provide many valuable services to the community including:

• Public fire safety education;

• Application of fire safety standards and enforcement, including thorough fire cause, origin and circumstance evaluations, Fire Code compliance, investigations, fire inspections and risk assessments;

• Effective emergency response, including fire suppression and medical emergency calls, and rescue operations (e.g. water/ice rescue, automobile extrication, confined space, trench, collapse and high angle) and special operations such as responding to hazardous materials calls; and

• Recruitment outreach and community engagement campaigns such as Camp FFIT (Female Firefighters in Training).

Photos source: Carlsbad Springs Community Engagement (Facebook)