A BX-Swan Lake volunteer firefighter suffered minor injuries after he was hit by a vehicle while walking on foot to battle a fire.
The department was called to a report of flames in trees in the area above Hartnell and Tillicum Roads shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday.
“As I came around the corner from the hall I could see large flames in among the trees, and it looked like a couple of trees were crowning,” said BX-Swan Lake fire chief Bill Wacey. “I proceeded to call a couple of more units and got forestry involved.”
Wacey called his assistant chief who lives near the area to see what he could see, and both were looking for an access route to the fire.
Wacey said as they were heading onto the road to go to the fire, a bunch of cars were coming out “at quite a fast pace.”
“So I warned everybody to be careful of the traffic coming down off Hartnell Road,” he said.
It was discovered the fire was actually a bunch of burning pellets, with no flames in the trees, and because the fire truck couldn’t gain access to the site, six firefighters were sent on foot to battle the blaze. A volunteer firefighter was hit by a pick-up truck trying to leave the area.
That’s when the RCMP were called.
“He was bruised and shook up, but he was released from hospital at 2:30 a.m. Thursday,” said Wacey of the injured firefighter.
According to RCMP, the 26-year-old driver of a Ford F-350 was prevented from leaving the area by another fireman.
“BX fire department members stood by him until the police arrived,” said RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk. “The fire department members then pointed him out to our officers so they could investigate the case.”
The suspect was spoken to by police. He failed a roadside screening test so he was taken to the police office as part of an impaired driving investigation.
The suspect has since been released on a promise to appear with a court date of Aug. 29 where he is expected to face charges in relation to impaired driving. His vehicle was also impounded.
The fire is believed to have been started at a suspected bush party.
“We go to bush parties and illegal bonfires in the middle of the night and when we show up we have beer bottles chucked at us and we deal with drunk people hanging around, basically we’re a wet blanket telling them what they’re doing is illegal,” said Wacey. “It doesn’t happen often, but this is the first time I’ve ever had an incident like this.
“It was a narrow road and they were trying to boot it out of there. It could have been a whole lot worse, that’s for sure, because the fire was on a steep road and the road was slick because it had rained a little while before.”
