Tinder dry conditions are no time to have a fire, Victoria Fire Department reminds residents after two weekend incidents.
Late Saturday (July 8) night, the Engine 2 crew was called for a “sizeable” bonfire with high school-age youth having a party. When firefighters arrived, 60 to 70 people fled and left the fire burning, the department said in a social media post.
Later that shift, around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, the same crew was dispatched to Dallas Road for multiple reports of fire up the waterfront embankment.
Before Engine 2 arrived, Capt. David Bremner made the decision to upgrade the fire based on the glow showing from more than a kilometre away.
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“It was evident that the tinder-dry conditions had made the spread of fire rapid and more resources were needed,” the post reads. The area affected was roughly two metres by 60 metres with the flames coming well over the bank. With a strong wind, crews worked for more than two and a half hours to fully extinguish the fire and ensure it did not spread.
“It is lucky that the fire was controlled before it had the chance to spread to the nearby forest at Beacon Hill Park.”
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Victoria firefighters have been busy recently, Friday evening a fire broke out at a recycling facility in the Rock Bay area. Initial crews on scene were met with “extremely smokey conditions caused by the size of the fire” flames reaching 10 metres.
Not only are beach fires not allowed across the region, much of the province, including the entire Island, is under a provincial campfire ban due to the high fire danger.
Campfires – along with tiki and similar torches – are banned until Oct. 31, or until the order is rescinded.
The BC Wildfire Service says the ban is to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety. The Category 2 and 3 bans also restrict the following activities and equipment: fireworks, sky lanterns, burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description, binary exploding targets and air curtain burners.
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