This is a letter to the family who was camping at Nicklen Lake until Oct. 12.
We arrived at the campground and camped below you on the afternoon of Oct. 9. We left Oct. 11, since, unluckily for us, my friend’s RV broke down. We were forced to leave it and had to go back on Oct. 12 to see if we could fix it and get it going. We arrived back at the campground, and saw you leave about 30 minutes after we arrived.
After packing up our RV, we noticed a column of smoke coming from your campsite.
When I walked up to the site, there was an eight-inch diameter fire burning cheerfully, with two logs burning in it.
In a very short time, those logs would have burned to the ends and would have started a grassfire, since everything was very dry, and who knows how far the fire would have spread.
Was there not a bucket for water to put the fire out? We poured more than six gallons of water on the fire before it stopped crackling and hissing.
I now understand what the fire marshals mean by human-caused fire.
Remember, you were camped by a lake, which is where we got the water from to put the fire out.
It would have been so simple to take proper precautions. You shouldn’t leave a fire until it is cold enough that you can stick your hand into it.
Ed Pope
Vernon
