Two fires in Okanagan Falls sprouted up, Tuesday, along a roadside due to potentially discarded cigarettes.
The first blaze was on Green Lake Road and the second was on Highway 97 and Oliver Ranch Road near the south end of the Vaseaux Lake Bird Observatory.
Most of the Okanagan Falls Fire Department was on the scene of the first fire when the second call came in according to a spokesperson for the department.
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“When the second call came in we sent one truck down, there were some citizens on the scene putting it out themselves,” he said.
The cause of both fires is undetermined, with the points of origin besides the roadway.
“Discarded cigarettes are usually the number one cause, and occasionally we’ll get cars backfiring but it’s usually drier for that,” said the spokesperson. “Usually it doesn’t take a while for people who are in the habit of tossing their cigarettes out the window to get used to putting them out in their ashtray. They haven’t done that transition from winter-mode to summer-mode.”
“We had a pretty good breeze from the north, and with a discarded cigarette those go hand-in-hand, that’s what helps fuel that fire.”
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Earlier during the day, the department also was called out to deal with a non-permitted burn.
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