Mandy Webb has been a Colwood resident for roughly 26 years, but recently she’s witnessed a couple of wildifres that really stand out.
Her Clement Road property is near Allandale Pit. “We almost back right onto the open space,” she noted.
It’s an area that’s a popular spot for many residents to go for a stroll or take their dogs for a walk.
In fact, Webb noted, she walks through the area almost daily.
It was on one of those recent walks that she discovered something that concerned her. “Within about 50 yards I found about 20 [cigarette butts], after that I gave up, I was so disgusted,” she said.
Noticing that the cigarettes looked like they had been discarded fairly recently, Webb was concerned that they might spark another fire, especially since the area is so dry right now.
Last year she noted Colwood Fire Rescue was called to the area for a brush fire and roughly five years ago crews had to respond to a significant fire in the area.
“It came almost up to the properties … It was huge,” she recalled, adding some of the fire damage can still be seen.
The memories of those fires coupled with the extremely dry conditions sparked a desire to do something. So Webb reached out to see if the fire department could post signs in the area reminding residents not to discard their cigarette butts.
But that’s not as simple as it seems.
“It’s actually private property and we can’t trespass unless there’s an emergency,” said Colwood Fire Chief John Cassidy.
However, the City does own an easement in the area, which is patrolled regularly by the department and Colwood bylaw officers. “We’ve been very active with patrols,” he added.
While the department has stepped up its patrols in all areas that have been a concern in the past, Cassidy noted residents are also stepping up and have been more alert.
“The more people that are out and around, the more small fires are caught earlier,” he said, adding that’s key to preventing them from spreading.
He pointed to the recent fire at Royal Roads University. A oasserby smelt the smoke, found the small blaze and alerted the department right away before it turned into a major incident.
Cassidy noted Colwood and View Royal have also been working to remove bark mulch from medians and that seems to have helped reduce the number of cigarette-caused fires they’ve responded to this summer.
katie@goldstream
