Effective immediately a fire ban has been issued for the Town of Cochrane and all outstanding burning permits are suspended until further notice.

Dry and windy weather conditions forced the ban and Cochrane joins the Rocky View County, the Summer Village of Ghost Lake and much of Southern Alberta in putting a full fire ban in effect. It follows a fire advisory issued on July 6.

"It means that for the next short while until we have improved moisture conditions, a change in the moisture content in the ground and dust code, that we'll have residents not have any wood burning appliances outside on their properites. Of course, propane barbecues or natural gas barbecues are fine. Propane powered engineered devices, like gas top stoves, as long as they are on a noncombustible surface in your yard, would be acceptable but wood burning in the yard is banned until further notice."

Smoke is expected to increase in intensity during the day in Cochrane but is expected to drop slightly in the evening. The drop in air quality is due to smoke being generated by fires ravaging forests in British Columbia.

Environment Canada suggests forecasted evening showers may reduce the smoke and improve air quality. There is also a risk of thunderstorms.

"We are expecting heavier thundershowers today with lightning events ahead of that, wind driven events as well," says Humphrey. "If the cloud is not wet and we don't have moisture content in it then it just continues to dry the ground out even further."

While the fire hazard has risen to high or extreme in most parts of Alberta, there are few wildfires actually burning. As of last night there were 10 active, all in Northern Alberta, and most were under control or turned over. There have been a total of 752 fires since Mar. 1 that have burned 3,011.85 hectares.

For full details on the Cochrane fire ban look here.