Firefighters dealing with abandoned, 'intentionally

Firefighters dealing with abandoned, 'intentionally-set' fires on Sunshine Coast

Campfires are allowed in Sechelt but residents are concerned about fires left unattended

Karen Richard says she was walking through a forested area near the Tsain-Ko shopping centre in Sechelt, B.C., when she found a smouldering fire on Saturday morning.

"I could see a little smouldering," Richard said. "It was like a foot in diameter, little sticks and paper, like, piled up and there was a written note on the rock and a bandana laying across the rock."

She quickly doused the fire with water and called the police.

"It was definitely intentional," Richard said.

She said the fire was not far from her home.

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"We have an awesome community, and there's a lot of scared people in our community," Richard said.

Campfires are not banned in Sechelt, but Fire Chief Dwight Davison said there are concerns over intentionally-set fires that are being left unattended.

"We do have some areas that we've had some intentionally-set fires or lit fires," Davison said.

Since May, firefighters with the Sechelt Fire Department have responded to 28 calls for beach fires or campfires.

"Two of those calls were ones that were fires that were left not fully extinguished or were left unattended while still burning," Davison said.

The 26 other calls ended up being inaccurate, or the fires were extinguished before crews arrived.

On Aug. 9, firefighters responded to Porpoise Bay Road where two cedar trees were engulfed in flames.

"When they burned, [they] put off a lot of embers and the fire was quite aggressive on them," Davison said. "It was human-caused, and it was not from a campfire."

Davison has seen firsthand the devastation of wildfires in B.C., as he's been deployed to a wildfire burning in Clinton.

"Our residents are very concerned; they don't want something like that happening on the Sunshine Coast and nor do I," Davison said.

He said he is using weather tracking and prediction software to help determine when a campfire prohibition should be put in place.

"We've been in the low fire danger rating for quite some time," Davison said. "We are monitoring the situation very, very closely in regards to enacting a campfire prohibition."

A campfire ban is in place for certain areas in the Coastal Fire Centre region, including Manning Park, Chilliwack, Sea to Sky and South Island forest districts.

Davison said one of the reasons they are not included in the Category 1 campfire prohibition is high humidity and a lower fire danger rating.

"We've been experiencing a pattern of precipitation coming through on a pretty regular basis," he said.

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Given the size of their coverage area, he's confident in their ability to respond quickly to any fires.

"A campfire prohibition isn't going to stop somebody from going out and intentionally lighting something on fire," Davison said. "Prohibition isn't going to stop somebody from flicking a cigarette out a window."

He's reminding people to be responsible and fully extinguish all campfires.