A scenic West Vancouver overlook popular for posts on social media burned to the ground early Sunday morning.
West Vancouver Fire & Rescue crews were called to the Horseshoe Bay Lookout around 1 a.m. Sunday when someone spotted flames coming from the site off Horseshoe Bay Drive.
When crews arrived, they found the viewing platform fully involved in fire, said assistant chief Junior Harvey.
Luckily, firefighters had the right tool for the job. It was the first time West Vancouver Fire & Rescue deployed one of the department’s two brand-new wildland fire trucks, designed specifically for putting out fires in difficult-to-reach places. Harvey said it performed even better than expected.
“That was good use of it, for sure. The crew that used it was very pleased with it because it’s much easier to handle with lots of water on board, and the hand lines they are using are much easier to handle in the forest, so they were able to make light work of it,” he said. “They were very happy. They were sending me pictures the next morning with the trucks.”
Because of its views of Howe Sound and Horseshoe Bay, the location is a known destination for people seeking idyllic backgrounds for their Instagram and TikTok posts.
As of Monday, crews had still not begun a detailed investigation. Harvey cautioned there may be little for them to go on.
“It was in the middle of night so there was nobody around,” he said. “The platform is basically burned down so it’s going to be very hard, my guess, to find out exactly what happened.”
The terrain around the lookout platform is rocky with mostly small vegetation. Because of the higher moisture content in the air at night, it’s unlikely the fire would have jumped to the forests above the highway, Harvey said.
“During the day, I would assume at this point it could have been a different situation,” he said.
Harvey said the fire is a reminder for everyone to be extremely cautious when dealing with open flames or smoking materials. Most of the Coastal Fire Centre is under a High fire danger rating currently, meaning forest fuels are dry and likely to burn fast and hot if sparked.
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