OYSTER RIVER B.C – The Oyster River Fire Chief Bruce Green emphasizes the importance of fire safety after three fires broke out near Oyster River Sunday.
Oyster River fire crews were called to a small brush fire on Macaulay road, near Oyster River Sunday afternoon just before 3:30 p.m.
The fire quickly increased in size and Oyster River Fire requested mutual aid from both Courtenay and Cumberland. The BC Wildfire Service was also called, and they activated the valley’s emergency program just in case people needed to be evacuated.
The MyComoxValleyNow newsroom spoke to Oyster River Fire chief Bruce Green Monday afternoon, and he said the cause of the fire was a stump pile that started burning out of control.
“The wind caught some embers and the embers crossed a 40 foot fire break and started the stuff on the other side of the fire break on fire.”
He also said crews were working to locate the head of the fire, but found it difficult because of the dense trees.
“The bush that it was in was fairly dense so we had a hard time gaining access to the find the head of the fire, fortunately we were able to bush cut our way through the bush and get to the head of the fire with help from BC Wildfire Service and our mutual aid partner,” Green said.
Fire crews had it under control by 9 p.m last night, but returned Monday morning to confirm it wouldn’t start up again.
According to Green, with the help of BC Wildfires crews determined the size of the fire was approximately 4 hectares.
There were no injuries and no structures damaged in the fire.
Green also mentioned that there were two other fire calls that day. The first was a smaller grass fire near York Road and was only a 20 by 40 fire. The other call was for an out of control fire on Kelland Rd off of Highway 19A, but he said both were very easy to extinguish.
He wanted to stress the importance of fire safety during this time of the year.
“We need people to understand its dry out there, if your going to burn, make sure you have a water supply, and make sure your fire its totally extinguished before you leave.”
Currently, the fire danger rating is low for most of the Island, but burn permits are required for all fires over 50 cm in diameter in the Black Creek/Oyster Bay Fire Protection Area.
