An early-season wildfire in Campbell River is highlighting the already dangerous dry conditions across many parts of the province.
The Woods Creek wildfire was first spotted on Sunday in an area between the Campbell River airport and Storey Creek Golf Course.
“It started out as a rank 2 fire, so it was travelling very quickly through dry brush along the ground. And when it reached certain trees … it certainly did candle up,” Kelly Bellefleur, acting director of Campbell River’s municipal fire department, told Global News.
About 30 firefighters from the city’s fire department and BC Wildfire Service were called to attack the blaze, an effort that required trucking water into the site.
“The amount of water we wanted to use to fight this fire, to get that here in a timely fashion, does take a fair bit of work — we were shuttling water about 45 minutes away,” Bellefleur said.
The fire grew to nearly 3.5 hectares before crews were able to stall its progress late Sunday. By noon on Monday, it was listed as “under control.”
The cause remains under investigation, but it is suspected to have been a result of human activity, potentially an unattended campfire.
There have already been 194 wildfires provincewide this year, including 22 in the coastal fire centre.
“While we are a little above average, it’s really early in the season for us to predict what kind of wildfire season we are going to have,” said Julia Caranci, a fire information officer for the Coastal Fire Centre.
“At lot of that depends on the amount of spring rains received, especially in that key month of June, so that will help us determine what kind of fire season we have.”
Caranci noted that April was very dry in many areas.
With rapid snowmelt already triggering drought fears in many parts of the province and the fire danger rating creeping up to moderate and high on parts of Vancouver Island, the Central Interior and Northern B.C.
“As we see days without rain, that will continue to go up,” she said.
So far, there are no campfire bans anywhere in B.C. The only open burning bans, covering category 2 and category 3 fires, are in the Cariboo Fire Centre in Central B.C.
“Regardless of whether we have any prohibitions in place, you need to be extremely cautious and careful when having any kind of an open fire or engaging in any kind of activity that could potentially cause a wildfire,” Caranci said.
“Most spring wildfires are human-caused, and almost all of those are preventable.”
Back on Vancouver Island, Bellefleur is urging people to be vigilant anytime they’re recreating in the outdoors — particularly with the Victoria Day long weekend approaching.
“It’s looking like it’s going to be a hot and dry summer, so we do want everyone to pay attention to any of the restrictions that are put into place,” he said.
“Be very mindful of where you are riding your machines, and more importantly, if you have any kind of fire going, cigarette, campfire, etc., be very clear that it is out before you leave.”