The North Grenville Fire Service was extremely busy for the first day of summer, with three calls in the space of three hours Monday. The first one came in just before noon: a grass fire along the 416 at Rideau River Road. The fire was down in the ditch along the south lane. Fire crews from North Grenville and Ottawa worked together to contain the spread of the fire through the dry grass and brush. Police closed both southbound lanes temporarily as the smoke and ash created poor visibility. The cause of the fire is unknown but a tossed cigarette is suspected.
At 1:30 firefighters were called to McFarlane Road due to a smoke complaint. The landowner had a permit for an agricultural burn but agreed to extinguish the flames so as to put an end to the smoke.
Just after 2:30pm the trucks were sent to Shoeless Joe’s restaurant on Colonnade, where the flowerbed mulch had overheated and caught fire. That too was quickly brought under control.