Two fires were causing smoke to drift from the mountains near the Harrison Mills Wednesday (March 20).
B.C. Wildfire crews responded to both a fire at the Sts’ailes First Nation and a grass fire in the Morris Valley.
Coastal Fire Centre information officer Donna MacPherson said she didn’t have much information on the fire at the Sts’ailes this time; she believed wildfire crews assisted the local fire department in dealing with a fire, but couldn’t say at this time how big it was or how it started.
A fire centre employee has gone out to the First Nation today (Thursday) to get an update on the fire.
The Agassiz Harrison Observer has reached out to the Sts’ailes First Nation for more details, and will be following up with the Coastal Fire Centre later in the day.
A plume of smoke can be seen coming from the north side of the Fraser River. #Agassiz fire department says it is coming from near the Sts’ailes First Nation and BC wildfire crews are responding. pic.twitter.com/Yb1lpkex0V
— Grace Kennedy (@gracekenn) March 21, 2019
The North Fraser volunteer fire department was also called out to a grass fire in Morris Valley Wednesday. Because the fire was in difficult terrain, the department called B.C. Wildfire for assistance around 3 p.m, MacPherson said.
The grass fire was two hectares at its height, and is currently contained. Crews will be onsite today to deal with continuing flames in the centre of the area.
“Grass fires have a tendency to grow rapidly, but they’re also very easy to control,” MacPherson said.
Grass fires are not uncommon at this time of year, MacPherson said. Although snow had covered the dead grass from the previous year, the bout of warm weather had dried out the grass and made it easy fire tinder.
“We’re sort of in that in-between stage when the grasses are volatile,” MacPherson said. “It’s easy for them to burn, especially if we have several days of dry weather in a row.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article included Coastal Fire Centre’s statement that the Abbotsford Fire Department attended the grass fire in Morris Valley. It was actually the North Fraser Fire Department that responded. We regret the error.
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