North Shore fire departments are issuing a public plea after a close call with a brush fire in dangerous conditions.
West Vancouver Fire and Rescue members put out a brush fire off Highway 99 just north of Horseshoe Bay, Tuesday afternoon (July 6). It was an off-duty firefighter from the District of North Vancouver who first stopped and worked to contain the flames while waiting for crews from West Van to arrive.
“When we have these extreme weather conditions, we'll dispatch two engines, just because it gets going quite rapidly,” said fire chief Dave Clark.
The small blaze grew to about 15 square feet – not huge by brush fire standards “but the potential is there,” Clark said, noting the wind from Howe Sound tends to blow into the trees just above the highway.
The current fire danger rating on the North Shore has been set at High, with little to no precipitation in the forecast.
“Everything is just tinder dry right now,” said Jeremy Duncan, assistant chief with District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services. “You can see all the brown trees. Any discarded cigarettes, any backcountry [fire] activity, any open flames, any backyard fires – they’re obviously not allowed but it’s just such a high risk.”
Clark said it’s highly likely that a butt-flicker is to blame to for the Horseshoe Bay fire.
“We didn't have a cloud in the sky. It wasn't caused by nature, that's for sure. It was human caused,” Clark said.
Over the last four years, West Vancouver Fire and Rescue has been called to an average of 15.5 brush fires each summer.
“I've been here for 27 years, and I've had a couple of fires where it's been nature, but all the ones that we go to are human caused and it's usually cigarettes, which is really unfortunate. It's totally preventable,” he said.
The fire department is now launching an awareness campaign with the District of West Vancouver to plant signs on traffic medians and roadsides where crews have had to come douse flames.
“It's a real visual thing for people to hopefully see go, “OK, it was a cigarette butt that did this,” Clark said.
The West Van fire department, meanwhile, is having some good – and relieving – results from similar a campaign that warns about the dangers of fires on beaches and in public parks.
So far this year, crews have responded to 120 complaints about illegal burning, up from 91 in all of 2020. The bulk of them have come from the Pilothouse Road/Lighthouse Park area.
“Those are the ones that actually cause me grief at night and when I’m trying to sleep. If that gets in the grass, it's not going to stop until it hits the highway,” he said.
Thankfully, however, complaints have dropped off since the district began posting signs in the hot spots.
“We get a lot of burning complaints this time of year, like maybe five a night. And it's always beach fires. And [the signs] actually made a huge difference. We get one maybe every three days now. It’s fantastic.”
Crews from both departments and now conducting patrols of beaches and parks to ensure everyone is abiding by fire restrictions and bylaws.
If the fire danger is elevated to extreme, Clark said they may have to begin closing parks.
