Two recent fires at Sugar Cane Reserve have kept local firefighters busy.
On April 14, the 150 Mile House volunteer fire department was called to what fire chief Stan McCarthy says was a large grass fire.
“I don’t know how it was set, but it was a kilometre by a kilometre.
“We managed to control it and turned it over to a crew from the Cariboo Fire Centre,” McCarthy explains, adding he had to take two of his members to Cariboo Memorial Hospital for smoke inhalation, where he waited with them for a few hours.
On April 19, a second fire broke out amongst some buildings, sparked by someone grinding on a metal fence.
“It burnt down a couple little sheds. I called in the Williams Lake Fire Department because I needed some manpower,” McCarthy says, adding there were 15 firefighters all together fighting the blaze — six from 150 Mile House and the rest from Williams Lake.
Together they managed to control it within an hour.
“That fire on Thursday was sparked by a spark from a grinder and it took off and there was no catching up to it. And the one on Saturday, you couldn’t go as fast as the fire went.”
