On Tuesday morning at 6:45 a.m., the Bowen Island Fire Department received a call about a brush fire on the wooded hillside between the upper ferry line-up and Artisan Square. Upon arrival at the scene, Fire Chief Ian Thompson said the fire covered an area of about 400 square feet.
“We started out by putting the flame out with water, and after that we had to use shovels and pickaxes to get rid of all of the moss and vegetation in that area. The next step was to place a foam which acts as a fire retardant on top of the whole area,” says Thompson. “The big concern with a brush fire like that is that it will continue to smoulder, and then ignite again underground and spread through the root system of the forest.”
Thompson says he believes the cause of the fire was likely a cigarette butt.
“They are all over the ground up there,” says Thompson. “I think it is likely that someone was walking up there smoking a cigarette the evening before, and left it smouldering on the ground. Because of the wet moss in the area it didn’t ignite until morning.”
It took the fire department roughly two hours to put out the fire and clear the area. Thompson says he visited the site three times later in the day to ensure there was no risk of it re-ignighting.
