The Port Alberni Fire Department responded to a pair of wildfires in quick succession on Tuesday afternoon, July 18.
Multiple calls to 911 came in just before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday about a fire emitting lots of smoke just west of West Coast General Hospital, in a wooded area on Redford Street near the driveway to the new emergency department.
“When we arrived on scene the fire was approximately 80 feet by 80 feet (24 square metres) and growing,” Port Alberni Fire Department Chief Mike Owens said. “We were able to position on the roundabout for the ambulance and utilize the master stream on top of the truck to wet down the area while Rescue 8 came around and started wetting down the backside of the fire,” he explained.
“We were able to contain it relatively quickly. There was quite a large area that was involved.” The department did not need to call in BC Wildfire for assistance like it did Sunday night for a one-hectare fire discovered burning in Dry Creek gully near 16th Avenue.
READ: Multiple departments knock down wildfire near Port Alberni neighbourhood
While crews were still busy with the fire on Redford Street another call came in for another wildfire at 5:07 p.m., this time at the south end of Cherry Creek Road. The initial crew that attacked the fire near the hospital was pulled away to respond to the new fire, Owens said.
“When we arrived the fire was approximately 20 by 20 feet (six square metres) and probably grew to 40 by 25 feet (12 metres by 7.6 metres).”
By 6:30 p.m. both fires were no longer at risk of spreading and crews remained on scene in both places to deal with hot spots and any flareups.
Video taken by fire department personnel showed both fires to be burning hot, high and wide. Owens said there was some indication that the fires had been burning for a period of time, and that the extremely dry conditions meant flames spread quickly.
“There’s some indication that it had burned into the root system here, which would indicate that it was burning with some intensity for some time. As it would migrate outwards it would catch some of the tinder dry material and set that alight,” he explained.
Owens said although the fire investigations hadn’t formally started on either site, they both looked to be caused by humans. “As for if they’re malicious or not, we don’t know.”
Members of the Port Alberni RCMP attended both sites, he added.
susie.quinn@albernivalleynews.com
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