An orange glow lit the ts'uḵw'um (Wilson Creek) sky when Linda Reha-Krantz woke to look out the window of her Port Stalashen condo at about 2:30 a.m. Monday morning. A fire was blazing on the spit that divides the boating channel from the estuary, apparently having grown from a beach fire set the evening before.
The beach fire was either left unattended or was intentionally built to be big enough to get a big pile of driftwood burning, said Sechelt Volunteer Fire Department fire chief Dwight Davison. "[That's] undetermined at this time."
Reha-Krantz said she had observed four people walking out on the spit earlier in the evening and had watched them leave by flashlight after dark.
With the winds blowing last night, the fire "got going pretty good" and was "pretty deep-seated," said Davison. However, despite the ominous glow, firefighters had to wait until morning to knock down the flames because of the hard-to-access location.
The department's duty officer attended the scene overnight to monitor the situation, said Davison, but in the dark, it wasn't safe to send firefighters out. There were also issues with the tide, "It's out on a spit that is pretty tough to access on a good day," said Davison. "To try to take all of our equipment and hose lines down there in the dark – the risk to the firefighters was far greater than the risk to the driftwood burning on the beach."
A crew attended at 8:30 a.m. Monday. At 11 a.m., when Davison talked with Coast Reporter, the department was in the "mop up" stage. There were four firefighters from Halfmoon Bay and eight firefighters from Sechelt on-scene at that time.
The beach fire didn't pose a massive risk because of its isolation, the spit being almost entirely surrounded by water at high tide, said Davison. He acknowledged that the people at Port Stalashen were affected by the smoke flowing into their residences, "which is concerning."
Davison estimates that this was the third major beach fire they've had in that area over the past decade. "Every few years we get a major one down here," he said. The driftwood piles up over the years, someone leaves a campfire unattended and the wind gets blowing and the conditions are ripe for a fire that will "get going pretty big."
This incident serves as a reminder that campfires, including beach fires, need to be fully extinguished before one leaves, said Davison. (The guidance is that the burn area is cool to the touch.) "Always have a shovel and a bucket with you to extinguish them," advised Davison.
As summer looms, there's the possibility of a campfire ban coming in earlier than usual, said Davison, "depending on the weather."
Category 2 (back yard) and Category 3 (industrial) fires have been banned in the area since May 17.
Earlier this month, the Sunshine Coast Regional District reminded the public of beach fire etiquette:
- "A campfire is defined as a fire no larger than 0.5 metres high and 0.5 metres in diameter.
- Select your spot below the high-tide line and make sure to construct your containment ring with rocks.
- You must keep at least eight litres of water or a hand tool at all times while the campfire is lit.
- Before you leave the area for any amount of time, your campfire must be fully extinguished. The ashes of your fire must be cool to the touch.
- The area around your campfire must be clear of debris and anything combustible."
