Minor fire this evening

[PaulL]

Well, that was an adrenaline packed evening. Got a call that we had a fire at the other end of the island. Got down there in time to lay hose and run pumps. Forest BC helicopter followed a minute later with some drops.
About half an acre and then brought into control.
Glad we had enough tankers to keep our pump trucks going. Old, second hand trucks that paid for themselves today.
More work tomorrow, and a fair bit tonight for those folks who drew fire watch.
Yikes.

 

[Chicken lights]

Nice work, stay safe

 

[PaulL]

And for a blessing, rain this morning.

 

[Tomc938]

Glad everyone is safe. What Island? (I'm up in Campbell River)

 

[PaulL]

Sidney Island, just off Victoria.

 

[CalgaryPT]

Well, that was an adrenaline packed evening. Got a call that we had a fire at the other end of the island. Got down there in time to lay hose and run pumps. Forest BC helicopter followed a minute later with some drops.
About half an acre and then brought into control.
Glad we had enough tankers to keep our pump trucks going. Old, second hand trucks that paid for themselves today.
More work tomorrow, and a fair bit tonight for those folks who drew fire watch.
Yikes.

Stay safe.

 

[PaulL]

Morning debrief done. Everything went very well and smoothly. No injuries, a few equipment kinks to work out, and the realization that no pumper is going to move once hoses are down. We have a small truck we expected would be shuttled to refill. Nope. Pumped our tanker to it instead.
Flare-ups continue as it's pretty clearly an under-ground fire. Excavator in there now breaking it up further.

 

[Tomc938]

Sidney Island, just off Victoria.

Yikes! That's a small island when you are talking fire in these conditions.

 

[PaulL]

I'm really glad it was caught on a week-end when a lot more folks than usual are present. Would have been really hard on a team half the size, which would be most weekdays.

 

[Tom O]

Years of pine needles?

 

[PaulL]

And duff. So many long-downed trees and togs. Lots of rotting undergrowth, plenty of dry sallal roots.

 

[DavidR8]

Yikes!

 

[YotaBota]

Good there was someone on the ball, well done.
Is there a community fire watch or was it more luck that the fire was spotted?
Has the source been determined?

 

[PaulL]

We have a pretty robust, if small, fire team who keep the pumpers and tankers going and practice regularly, along with whole-community fire practices twice anually.
The fire was spotted by our neighbor who was out fishing - there's a great salmon ground right by where the fire started. It was simultaneously reported by two other vessels - I think everyone is hyper-aware of fire danger now.
We'll likely never know the source - the area is pretty destroyed at this point, digging out subterrainean pockets of heat.

 

[whydontu]

Thank you for your community support. Is Wikipedia correct that you are all one big strata?

I can’t get some of our strata members to cut down the weeds on their patios, let alone fight fires.

(My horribly inappropriate sense of humor suggests Subterranean Pockets Of Heat would be a great name for either a punk band or a BBQ sauce)

 

[PaulL]

We are a big strata. And we don't get along on all things, but we sure are all deeply invested in fire safety!