The second grassfire started around power lines in as many days happened last night at Lean-to Creek on the Nisga’a Highway about 15 km north of Terrace.
Fire officials suspect that the 0.1 hectare fire was caused when a small tree fell across the power line on the side of the highway near the entrance to Lean-to Creek Rd.
“A tree fell across the power line and that started a fire in the grass [below],” said Sandy Maclean from the northwest wildfire centre.
Fire attack crews responded to the fire, which started around 7:00 p.m., in a helicopter, but the three-person crew then had to wait for BC Hydro to respond to make sure the area was safe before extinguishing the blaze.
Residents along the highway lost power for a few hours while crews responded to the fire.
This incident follows another fire that started on Greig Ave. on July 8 when a hydro transformer blew and ignited the grass below.
The hot and dry weather conditions have turned regular events into fire hazards, say officials.
“With such dry conditions, what would normally be a non-event now has the possibility to generate a fire,” said Maclean.
“The whole area is quite dry so we are aggressively responding to every call we get,” he noted.
