CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – Smoldering beach fires are an annual issue for the Campbell River Fire Department.
But this past weekend was particularly busy, according to fire chief Thomas Doherty.
“We had over 40 calls and five of those were… unattended beach fires,” he said.
Doherty reminds the public, if they are going to have beach fires while they’re still permitted in the city, to make sure they have the fire below the high tide mark, and not adjacent to the logs.
“Also make sure you abide by the clean air bylaw,” he added. “So the fire’s got to be 60 centimetres in diameter and no larger, and you have a bucket there to fully extinguish it.”
As well, Doherty said, when you leave the area, the fire must be cold to the touch.
Especially with the dry weather, there is a danger of beach fires jumping to other parts of the beach, and even across Highway 19A to businesses and homes, according to Doherty.
“We always have some prevailing winds coming off the water,” he said. “The winds can pick up the embers, what we call firebrands, and they can travel quite a distance. It’s when those brands land into some other dry vegetation maybe across the highway into some leaves, where you run into some problems.”
Doherty said fires that started above the high tide mark get into the logs and burn deep into the wood and as they get bigger, more embers and brands fly off those and it increases the risk of spot fires away.
The Campbell River department typically follows the lead of the province when it comes to fire bans, Doherty said.
“When a campfire ban comes on in the province in the Coastal (Fire Centre) area, we’ll put a ban on the beach fires, here,” Doherty said.
Ultimately, putting out beach fires is a big draw of firefighting resources.
“It draws us away from some of the more serious calls that are occurring,” Doherty said. “If you are going to have a beach fire, make sure you put it out, otherwise, we’ll have to go down there and draw on our resources to tend to that.”
He also urged people not to throw cigarettes onto the dry ground but to use non-combustable ashtrays, instead.
