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Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Play with Äre, get burned Fired up: Quarry blaze, Lakes Road burn reminders that dry weather creates risk Peter W. Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
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North Cowichan South End ÄreÄghter Bob Logie Äghts a brush Äre off Wildwood Drive that threatened a nearby structure Monday afternoon.
“Service Is What We’re All About, We Just Happen To Sell Tires!”
Andrew Leong
Ryan Arruda Ken Karpick Bodie Kroek Chris Pilkey Kevin Wood Conor McCabe Doug Jordan Trevor McClelland Jon Redlick
5295 Trans Canada Hwy., Duncan
250-746-9815
uper-dry conditions and carelessness sparked two weekend ¿res that burned several acres and threatened homes, ¿re of¿cials and police say. That’s why Brad Coleman, captain of North Cowichan’s south-end hall, warned how latesummer weather can bluff folks about big ¿re risks. “It’s deceiving,” he said after Monday’s 2:30 p.m. brush inferno off Lakes Road near Wildwood Drive. “People see clouds, and temperatures dropping at night, but we still have to be cautious — it’s still really dry.” So dry it took 18 North Cowichan and Duncan ¿re¿ghters to contain a brush ¿re that toasted what Coleman ¿gured was three to four acres of private property Monday. That ¿re followed Friday morning’s south Cowichan ¿re that threatened homes near Mill Springs gravel pit. Shawnigan Lake RCMP suspected camp¿re carelessness was the culprit. Coleman said Monday’s ¿re was stopped as it approached a property-line fence during light-winds. “It had the potential to be ugly,” he said of “spread-out” Àames that rushed through underbrush, and started climbing trees when crews arrived. North Cowichan’s monitor truck used water-cannon gear to douse trees “to avoid candling” while ¿re¿ghters battled various hotspots, including debris piles. Coleman deferred comments
about the cause to Rob Clark, municipal assistant to the ¿re commissioner. He was unavailable for comment by press time. Coleman indicated the risk to homes was minimal, but neighbours were worried by the ¿re, while a unmarked helicopter — possibly belonging to B.C. Forestry — hovered. “It was quite a distance from residential dwellings. “It was running toward a culde-sac on Drumcullen Road.” But danger to homes was much higher during Friday’s south-end ¿re at about 8 a.m. near the 800 block of Alget Road, the Mounties said. They believed careless partiers may have caused that blaze contained by Mill Bay ¿re¿ghters, who called the cops amid concerns the ¿re was arson. “It appears as though a group of persons had a camp¿re and a drinking party in the forested area east of the gravel pit,” a police release says of the ¿re being probed. “When the group disbanded, the ¿re was either not extinguished properly, or just left going.” Fire crews found Àames several feet high, and covering 10 square metres before it was snuffed. “It could have been much worse with the potential to spread, had it not been for the efforts of Mill Bay Fire Department personnel,” the RCMP says of the risk to residences. Fire tips can be called to Shawnigan Lake RCMP at 250743-5514, North Cowichan/ Duncan RCMP at 250-7485522, or call Crime Stoppers at 1 800-665-8477.
Steve Perry Roddy MacDougall
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