Region relatively unscathed as fire season heats up, despite blazes near Redstone, at Celgar and in the Arrow Lakes area
By Kyra Hoggan
Bar a blaze that destroyed a Genelle home and injured a firefighter (see: http://castlegarsource.com/news/fire-destroys-home-genelle-injures-firefighter-20525#.UDaiV8GPWSo), the tri-city area remains relatively unscathed during a hot, dry fire season this year, even though several smaller fires have started this past week – including one at the Zellstoff Celgar pulp mill.
Southeast Fire Centre’s Karlie Shaughnessey said there was a person-caused fire reported Aug. 17, southeast of Rossland and adjacent to the Rossland golf course.
“It occurred in a recently logged area, and we responded with seven BC Forestry Service personnel and two helicopters,” she said, adding the Trail Fire Department responded as well. “The fire was 0.1 hectares. We had air tankers lay retardant guard around the fire in the early morning of Aug. 18, and the fire was out by that evening.
“This fire didn’t threaten any structures or communities.”
She said there were also four lightning starts in the Arrow and Slocan Lakes areas during the Aug. 21 storm.
“Initial attack crews are putting those fires out as we speak,” she said, adding there have been no large fires in the area at all – the excess of smoke funnelling through the valley is actually being blown up from conflagrations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Meanwhile, a fire at the Zellstoff Celgar mill in Castlegar on Monday didn’t turn out to be a huge deal, although it took several hours to extinguish, according to fire chief Gerry Rempel.
“We got the call at about 1:40 p.m. from Celgar,” he said. “Normally, they handle these things themselves – they have their own brigade – but there are no hydrants where they are, so they needed an extra tanker truck.
“It was in the landfill, and there’s a lot of residual ash from the boiler/steam plant. That might have been a factor, but we don’t know for sure what started it. It was very dry, and if the wind had risen and blown embers around, it could’ve gotten very busy.”
With Castlegar’s help, though, Celgar staff extinguished the small blaze, and Castlegar crews were homebound by about 5 p.m.
The Southeast Fire Centre reminds residents that an open burning ban remains in effect, banning all fires except campfires less than 1/2 metre high and less than 1/2 metre wide.
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