The Keremeos Fire Department had a busy Thursday, responding to multiple fires on July 15.
The largest of the blazes, which started on 10th Avenue, consumed a shed.
That fire, despite being located just outside the village limits, proved to have some difficulties with rubberneckers choking the way for the fire department to reach the blaze.
“There were so many people stopping to look at what was going on, stopping in the middle of the road, and then when the people do see a firetruck coming, they pull over to opposite sides of the road, making it so narrow it’s difficult to get a truck through,” said Keremeos fire chief Jordy Bosscha.
Once they arrived, the 14 firefighters were on scene for around two hours, before the blaze was extinguished.
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“Fortunately while we were fighting the fire there was very little wind,” said Bosscha. “Before and after it was very windy.”
The cause of that fire is currently under investigation, but is not being considered suspicious.
Later that evening, the fire department responded to four different suspicious fires set on a property on 6th Avenue. The four spot fires were all located in the front yard outside the home.
“One fire was the lawnmower, and there were two sections of a wooden fence set on fire,” said Bosscha.
Conveniently, the property is located across from the Keremeos Firehall, and firefighters were on scene quickly.
Those fires are considered suspicious by the Keremeos Fire Department, as well as the reports of ‘ghost’ fires and a previous grass fire at the property a few days earlier.
The RCMP has been contacted for further information.
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