Residents in East Porpoise Bay can thank the swift action of fire crews for getting a potentially dangerous forest fire under control quickly last Thursday afternoon.
Just after 2 p.m., on July 10, Sechelt Fire Department responded to the blaze that was approximately 1.8 hectares in size in the area of Heron Road and East Porpoise Bay Road.
"Windy conditions blew down a tree that took out hydro lines," said acting Sechelt fire chief Trevor Pike. "The downed hydro lines then caused the fire to start and the winds quickly began to push the fire up the hillside to the northeast."
Pike said four structures were immediately at risk, so fire crews concentrated their efforts on protecting those structures."The firefighters defended those structures and thankfully there was no property loss," added Pike.
Sunshine Coast RCMP put up road blocks in the area and diverted all vehicle traffic in. As a precautionary measure, homes in the area were also evacuated, but no injuries were reported. Residents were allowed back into the area just after 6 p.m. that evening.
While fire crews attacked the blaze on the ground, the B.C. Forest Service approached the fire from the air, as a helicopter and one fire cat were deployed to the scene.
The helicopter initially hit the fire scene five times with water before the fire cat made three drops of fire retardant onto the blaze. The helicopter then came back in and dropped several more buckets of water on the blaze, concentrating the efforts on a few key hot spots.
"There is no question that the support we received from the B.C. Forest Service was huge in containing the fire," said Pike. "The air drops are what helped us knock it down."
Other volunteer resources also played a critical role in keeping the fire contained. Eighteen employees from Construction Aggregates as well as four Mountain Marine employees played key roles throughout the day.
"When someone rings the bell and we can respond and help out, that's a great thing," said Construction Aggregates mine manager Mike Latimer. "We're really proud of all our employees. They stepped up when there was an opportunity to help out, and that's what we're all about - helping the community. Dave Starnes, Dwight Davison and Roger Joe are all volunteer firefighters in the community. I want to pay special recognition to those guys. They're our employees, and they do so much more in the community."
By about 5 p.m. Thursday night, fire crews had the blaze under control. Crews remained on scene all day Friday and most of Saturday extinguishing hot spots and performing overhaul and perimeter patrol operations.
"These types of fires become very deeply embedded in the ground and can easily reignite," said Pike. "On Friday we went through and gave the area a good clean-out. It's very demanding on the guys because they have to go through with shovels and chainsaws. On Saturday, most of the work was done by the forest service. They did a heat scan from the air and then went in and did some more work on potential hot spots. Forestry did a real nice job for us."
As of Monday, July 14, there had been no flare ups, but Pike said fire crews would be monitoring the fire location for several more days just to be on the safe side.
Numerous other agencies helped at the fire scene including B.C. Ambulance, District of Sechelt, Salvation Army and fire crews from Halfmoon Bay and Roberts Creek.
"We had a tanker from Roberts Creek that was helping shuttle water down to our tanks and we had an engine from Halfmoon Bay back at our station providing support for the Sechelt Fire District in case something else happened," said Pike. "The community really came together on this one."
