The province and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities Tuesday announced a standardized sign to be used by municipalities when they institute a fire ban. Chris Goertzen, President of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, says the idea was put forward two years ago by the RM of Stuartburn and is now ready to be implemented. He adds it should make the signs less confusing.

"Right now, every municipality creates its own fire ban signage. It's not consistent. Now we're going to have consistent signs across Manitoba that will be clear and concise and will allow people to recognize that it is too dangerous to start fires. This will keep our communities safer and it'll make things more clear for individuals who are not only living in those areas but passing through."

Stuartburn Reeve Jim Swidersky first proposed the idea in 2015 and is pleased to see it come to fruition.

"This consistent signage marks a vast improvement in public information with the goal of greater compliance and less risk to our natural resources, infrastructure, and lives."

Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler says the province was pleased to follow through on the concept.

"We encourage all municipal governments to move to this new sign when alerting the public that burning bans are in place as safety measures. This concept emerged from the AMM and is a great example of co-operation between governments."