Several days of rain have dropped the fire danger rating in the area to “very low.”
The wet weather is a welcome sight for the Coastal Fire Centre, which has been busy dealing with the consequences of an abnormally dry start to fall.
“All of the fires that we’ve had in the last month and a half has made up for the lack at the beginning,” said fire information officer Donna MacPherson.
“A lot of fire danger ratings have been breaking records. We’ve been finding that any fires that we have had, the crews have had to dig down to extinguish the burning material.”
A crew was called out to Squeah Forest Service Road last Wednesday to tackle a fire that started 20 metres up a cliff bluff. MacPherson said there was smoke on the ground with a little bit of open flame, mostly in moss. A helicopter bucketed water to help extinguish the fire quickly.
“There was someone in the area that did something they shouldn’t have done,” she said.
“There’s still pockets that are bone dry. Everybody still needs to be aware of the fact it’s going to take a bit of time for all of the forest to get wet. If people go and have campfire, make sure you put it out completely and make sure you situate it well – don’t put it near logs.”
