Sports scores Nanaimo Pirates baseball and Timbermen lacrosse teams were in action over the weekend. PAGE 18
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TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2015
VOL. 27, NO. 17
Province bans fishing in most streams as drought level rises
A Convair CV580 air tanker from Conair Aerial Firefighting drops fire retardant on a stand of trees to slow the progress of a wildfire in North Oyster, south of Nanaimo, Thursday afternoon. CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
BY CHRIS BUSH
THE NEWS BULLETIN
until a fire crew responded to fully extinguish it. Mond said in many cases it’s obvious smokers aren’t even bothering to try and extinguish cigarettes and are just tossing lit smokes on the ground. Near areas where wildland fire have started, he has found numerous cigarette butts on the ground. Dozens of firefighters from North Oyster, North Cedar and Cranberry volunteer fire departments continue to work on a wildfire in North Oyster that broke out Thursday, possibly due to a spark from farm equipment, that consumed more than 10 hectares of land and required drops of fire retardant from air tankers to bring under control.
Hot, dry, windy conditions prompted the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources to announce a Level 4 drought rating for the Island on Friday. The province also suspended angling in streams and rivers across southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands to protect fish already stressed by dwindling and warming water flows. Level 4 is the highest drought-level rating, meaning further declines in stream, lake and aquifer levels could lead to water shortages affecting people, agriculture, wildlife and fish stocks. Julie Pisani, Regional District of Nanaimo drinking water and watershed protection program coordinator, said the regional district expected the announcement and is taking it seriously. “For now we’re going to remain at Level 3 watering restrictions and monitor the situation over the next week,” Pisani said, adding that if residents don’t dramatically reduce water consumption the regional district could enforce a Level 4 watering ban. Bill Sims, city manager of water resources, said so far, people have responded to municipal Level 2 water restrictions. Nanaimo’s Jump Lake reservoir is at 90 per cent capacity and if residents continue to conserve, water supplies should last until October. “We want to respond appropriately with our main focus to be preserving our water supply and also the environmental health of the Nanaimo River,” Sims said. The regional district also closed the Trans Canada Trail between the Timberlands Road trailhead near the Haslam Creek Suspension Bridge and the Harewood Mines Road trailhead in Nanaimo due to extreme fire hazards. All logging road gates on Timberwest and Island Timberlands private forestry lands on the east side of the Island are also closed to the public.
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Fires blamed on discarded cigarettes
I
CREWS BUSY this weekend putting out brush fires. BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
Careless discarding of cigarettes attributed to the majority of wildland, landscape and bark mulch fires on the weekend. Two structures suffered damage, including a house on Howard Avenue where a brush fire burned a fence and melted soffits Friday night and a funeral chapel on Bowen Road where a improperly butted cigarette caught a cedar hedge on fire Saturday and caused minor damage to the building’s exterior.
Capt. Ennis Mond, Nanaimo Fire Rescue fire prevention officer, said all fires over the weekend were likely caused by smoking, including a brush fire that consumed about one hectare of land near Mary Ellen Drive and signalled the start of the blazes. The largest fires, including one near Jingle Pot Road that tied up units from four fire stations and burned a portion of Hawthorne Park Saturday, grew to about one hectare in size each before they were brought under control. Cappy Yates Park at Fitzwilliam and Wallace streets Friday and a brushy area on Skinner Street Sunday also burned due to human carelessness. Firefighters also had to snuff out a campfire
lit by homeless people living in the bush near Caledonia Park. A half-hectare-sized fire behind student housing at Vancouver Island University at about 2 a.m. Monday was also likely sparked by a cigarette. “Practically all of them have been human-caused,” Mond said. Assistant fire chief Greg Norman had to grab a fire extinguisher to snuff out a landscape fire while picking up sandwiches from the Subway restaurant on Bowen Road Saturday. “He was out getting nourishment for the crews on the Jingle Pot fire and lo and behold the plants are on fire,” Mond said. Norman knocked the fire down with an extinguisher
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