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Monday, July 6, 2015
» Wildfire
TOURISM
Visitor surge over spring ERIC PLUMMER ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES
An air tanker dropped one of several loads of fire retardant on the blaze at Sproat Lake’s Dog Mountain Saturday. Starting at 1.5 hectares, the fire grew to five hectares and smoke was visible from many areas in town. [KRISTI DOBSON, TIMES]
Valley effected by lakefront wildfire
Choppers and an air tanker fought blaze at Dog Mountain all weekend KRISTI DOBSON ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES
A fire that broke out on Dog Mountain on Saturday could be seen throughout the Alberni Valley for hours. The blaze started at the Sproat Lake mountaintop in the early afternoon, when a member of the public alerted the Coastal Fire Centre. “We had a lot of calls,” said Paula MacKay, fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre. “It was very visible from the lake.” Sproat Lake resident, Kryssie Thomson was on the water shortly after the fire started. “A friend at the provincial park called it in when it was just a trickle of smoke,” Thomson said. “He didn’t realize the severity of it.” Thomson said it was about two hours later that air crews
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came to fight the blaze. Six helicopters contracted from Vancouver Island used buckets to drop water and a provincially-owned air tanker dropped fire retardant to attempt to reduce the flames. The flames spread rapidly and the fire grew in size from its initial 1.5 hectares to a five hectare blaze. “The whole top of the mountain was engulfed,” Thomson said. “You could see flames shooting up the tops of trees.” Daniel Van der Merwe lives on Faber Road and saw the first plume of smoke. “I didn’t think it was a fire at first, but it spread fast,” he said. Within hours, the fire crept closer down the slope towards the lake. Throughout the afternoon and early evening the helicopters concentrated
on protecting the few summer cottages nearby. Thomson said the helicopters continued to fight the fire until about 9 p.m. and returned Sunday morning. “No structures were lost,” MacKay said on Sunday morning. “There has been an evacuation for the cabins at the base of the mountain. They were asked to move because it is steep and (crews) were worried about anything that might roll to the ground.” Still burning on Sunday, the fire had grown to an estimated 35 hectares in size by the afternoon. Thomson was watching it closing all evening and said she saw it continue to spread. “It spread from one area to another,” she said. “It jumped from tree top to tree top. I think the saving grace was
that the wind didn’t pick up too strong.” MacKay said the blaze is expected to be human-caused. She said most of the cabins are accessible only by boat, although there is a small road onto the peninsula. Residents woke up to orange hazy skies, a result of not only this fire, but multiple forest fires burning on Vancouver Island. “It is a strange weather system with the winds blowing from the east instead of the west and bringing smoke from the interior fires,” MacKay said. “It is an anomaly and is expected to last into Monday.” Further air quality information can be found at www. bcairquality.ca. Kristi.Dobson@avtimes.net 250-723-8171 ext. 238
New deputy fire chief comes to Port Alberni
Centre cares for shocked cedar waxwing
Wes Patterson has taken over the position of deputy fire chief in Port Alberni from Chris Jancowski, who relocated to Esquimalt at the end of March. »Alberni Region, 3
If you ever lived on the prairies, the cedar waxwing brings back great childhood memories. A local rehab centre is currently caring for one in the mid-Island region. » Community, 10
The warm weather has brought an enormous growth in visitors to the area, according records compiled by the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce. The chamber’s June statistics show a 265-per-cent jump in tourism compared to last year’s statistics, based on the number people who have passed through the Visitor Centre and come into contact with chamber ambassadors in various locations within the Alberni Valley. Visitation was also up 23 per cent in May, preceded by six-per-cent growth in April and seven per cent March. “We’re seeing that traffic is heavier, stores all seem to be reporting pretty favorable results,” said the chamber’s executive director Bill Collette. He credits the Valley’s warm weather and a larger disparity between the Canadian and American dollars for the tourism surge. “I think it’s the dollar, and that translates to more Canadians as well because, again, the dollar keeps the Canadians home and brings the Americans up here,” Collette added. Although the 8,660 visitors tracked last month shows an impressive increase, this number is still believed to be a fraction of the traffic that passes through Port Alberni en route to the Island’s west coast. But Cheryl Iwanowsky, who owns the Blue Fish Gallery at Second Avenue and Mar, is seeing more customers at her Uptown location than the other shop she runs in the Visitor Centre at the Valley’s entrance. “Compared to last year at this time we’re seeing more from Europe, for sure,” she said. “They’re going to world-famous Tofino, but they’re booking a lot of hotels right here in town – people who just decided to park here for one or two nights.” “Most people are tracking towards Tofino, Ucluelet, but we’re seeing a bigger share of those visitors now,” Collette said. “Some are making Port Alberni their destination.” Eric.Plummer@avtimes.net
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