Bowen Island Fire Department responded to a fire at Cape Roger Curtis on Tuesday afternoon.
Several fire trucks answered the call shortly after Noon at a private lot located slightly south of the Cape Lighthouse. Fire Chief Aaron Hanen said firefighters arrived to find an approximately 1,600 square foot area of driftwood logs burning “fairly intensely” on the beach.
The terrain allowed fire trucks to get fairly close to the flames, with a short walk needed to reach the burn location. “It was certainly more difficult than if it was just on the side of a road, but luckily there was a driveway most of the way into where the fire was, so we just had to walk about 200 feet at the end,” said Hanen.
In total four trucks and 16 firefighters arrived on-scene to deal with the fire. They spent about 4.5 hours putting out the blaze and another hour cleaning it up. Hanen returned to check the site Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and there were no further signs of trouble.
“The turnout from the volunteers was great. We got on it right away and it all turned out as good as can be,” said the fire chief.
An official cause hasn’t been determined but Hanen said there was a likely culprit. “We have to assume it’s human-caused, it can’t be anything other than a human. But no evidence whatsoever, no fire ring or anything like that,” he said.
Bowen Island is currently under a full fire ban, with a fire danger rating of ‘Moderate’.
