The Chief of the McLeese Lake Volunteer Fire Department says he is proud of his members who acted quickly to extinguish a large fire Wednesday afternoon that escaped from a burn pile on a private property on Forglen Road.
“It quickly got out of control and into the trees and caused a pretty serious situation,” explains Ian Hicks noting that 10 members had responded.
“It was within 20 feet of getting into the thick bush and we would have had a full-blown forest fire right in the backyard of our town. Luckily, we’ve got a small 4×4 that’s all outfitted to get up trails and has a 1,000-liter tank in the back. So the big truck sat on the road and the 4×4 kept coming down and refilling, and used a bunch of fire retardant foam.”
Hicks adds that after last summer, it’s not worth lighting fires.
“Whatever little bit of brush that you’ve got, you load it in your truck and take it to your transfer station. Lighting fires just seem like a pretty ridiculous idea.”
The BC Wildfire Service confirms that natural resource officers also attended, and fines according to Hicks were issued.