A brush fire that broke out on Eagleridge Bluffs on the weekend underscores the importance of campfire bans, according to the firefighters tasked with putting it out.
Assistant fire chief Martin Ernst said the fire, which appeared above the highway near Horseshoe Bay Sunday evening, could have been much worse had it not been for Junes soggy weather.
Firefighters were called to the site at about 6:20 p.m. when a passerby, likely a motorist, noticed a column of smoke rising from the hillside. Crews arrived to find a patch of grass about 10 metres by 10 metres in flames, with the fire threatening to climb further up the mountain. They doused it in a matter of minutes, and soon established that a nearby illegal campfire had likely been the culprit. Campfires are under perpetual ban within West Vancouvers municipal boundary.
It wasnt a large fire, but it was telling of why we keep preaching the prevention message, said Ernst. If we were further into June or into July when things are even dryer and its been pretty wet lately and this happens this could have been worse for sure. . . . Without quick action they can become deep-seated.
Campfires should never be lit on West Vancouver municipal land, he said, and on provincial Crown land where they are allowed at certain times of year, they should be doused completely.
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