NANAIMO REGION
Entrance Island lighthouse gets heritage protection It’s one of 74 lighthouses in seven provinces given heritage designation this week by the federal government under its new Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act. A3
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The newspaper of record for Nanaimo and region since 1874 || Saturday, July 4, 2015
» Fire
COMMUNITY
Residents evacuated after big blaze in Yellow Point
Pocket watch returned to museum JULIE CHADWICK DAILY NEWS
with numerous engines, land and air tankers, support fire and forestry trucks. A tired deJong was glad to see the flames knocked down and the smoke all but gone Friday afternoon. “I’m hoping to be home Saturday,” deJong said. “I’m hoping to be back on my vacation. We’re still in mop up . . . it’s smouldering a little bit here and there, but it’s not a big concern now.” Tinder-dry conditions also saw Nanaimo Fire Rescue quickly contain a grass fire that flared up not far from Woodgrove Centre on Friday afternoon, forcing some re-routing of traffic. It took Nanaimo firefighters about an hour to bring that fire under control. It was 90 per cent contained by 4 p.m.
A historically valuable pocket watch stolen from the Nanaimo Museum late last month has been returned. The watch, which once belonged to miner Robert McArthur, was noticed missing from its display case in the coal mining exhibit on June 25. One of the Nanaimo Museum’s most important artifacts, it had particular significance because it was forever stopped at 7:10 a.m., the moment that 16 coal miners plunged to their deaths in the Protection Island mine when the elevator cable snapped in September of 1918. The watch was found in McArthur’s pocket and served as a central artifact utilized by museum staff to tell stories about the lives and work of local coal miners. On Thursday the watch was returned to the museum, said Aimee Greenaway, interpretation curator. Further information on how and why the watch was returned is not yet available, but Greenaway said staff members are “elated and overjoyed” to see the artifact, which was donated by McArthur’s granddaughter, safely back in the museum’s possession again. “We really appreciate the support that we got from the community when all this was happening. “It was a really difficult time at the museum and it helped us to have so much support,” said Greenaway. The museum will not put the pocket watch back on display just yet. “We have to build a new case for it that has increased security measures in it,” said Greenaway. McArthur’s wallet is also in their collection, so the museum plan to build an expanded exhibit that includes more information about McArthur’s life and history.
Darrell.Bellaart @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4235
Julie.Chadwick @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4238
Paramedics treat a firefighter for an eye injury received while fighting a fire driven by heat and winds Thursday afternoon that continued to smoulder on a 61-hectare rural property Friday. Inset, firefighters were still working at the scene of the blaze, being mopped up on Friday. [DARRELL BELLAART/DAILY NEWS]
Tinder-dry conditions have fire officials on alert DARRELL BELLAART DAILY NEWS
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bush fire estimated to cover 20 hectares at one point evacuated several families in the Yellow Point area overnight Thursday. Residents on Hill Road and on Cedar Road, between Yellow Point and Adshead roads, were ordered to leave their homes when a small grass fire grew, fanned by strong winds, and spread into nearby trees. A temporary evacuation centre set up in the Ladysmith recreation centre was available, but went unused. The cause of the blaze is now under investigation. Conditions were right to turn it into a major blaze that took an arsenal of firefighters and equipment to control. “It’s just the perfect storm, so to speak — you had hay, wind and
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Sunny High 30, Low 18 Details A2
high temperatures,” said Capt. Jason deJong, of North Oyster Volunteer Fire Department, who was called in from his vacation to battle the fire. Retiree Ray Rinta, who lives with his wife on a smaller, adjacent property, was napping after a day at the beach in Ladysmith Thursday afternoon when his wife woke him up to say the neighbouring field was on fire. “I phoned 911 and they said, ‘We have already received a call.’” Rinta said. “We were standing out on the back deck and you could see the smoke.” It grew much bigger and by about 7 p.m., it had spread into nearby trees. Rinta was surprised when the fire jumped across a greenbelt created where moisture from a run-off ditch separated the two properties. Emergency vehicles soon blocked Cedar Road off, and the
Rintas were evacuated, along with neighbours. They arranged to stay with their daughter in Nanaimo but when she ended up behind roadblocks they met her at the nearby Chuckwagon Store. But before that happened, the fire brought out the best in a friendship with Darryl Hickey, a neighbour who works at Bedrock Redi-Mix, a concrete company. Rinta and Hickey watched the fire grow for some time, and Hickey, “couldn’t stand it anymore,” Rinta said. Hickey convinced his boss to get some trucks from the work yard to haul water to put out the fire. “It was touching, I’ll tell you, to have your neighbour do that for you,” Rinta said. Considerable resources were enlisted: Volunteer firefighters from North Oyster, Cranberry and Ladysmith, supported by Coastal Fire Service personnel,
Labour strife disrupts flights out of Toronto
Paul Bernardo request for day parole shocks
The Greater Toronto Airport Authority said 95 flights were cancelled as of the late afternoon, accounting for about 11.2 per cent of the daily departures. » Nation & World, A8
It is Bernardo’s right, but this has left families of both victims devastated, even though they knew this day was coming, said their lawyer Tim Danson. » Nation & World, A9
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