POLICE BEAT: Grass fire on Brown Creek Road burns 22 acres
By Erin Perkins
The quick action of the Grand Forks Fire Rescue and the Southeast Fire Centre soon got a 22 acre (8.9 hectares) grass fire under control in the Brown Creek area, Saturday, Sept. 1.
Grand Forks Fire Rescue was called out at 1:30 p.m. that day after a mower blade struck a rock when a man was mowing down a weedy field on a Brown Creek Road property, said Grand Forks Fire Rescue fire chief Dale Heriot.
“When we got there the grass fire was moving very quickly and had moved into some of the treeline as well,” said Heriot.
It took the firefighters and he BC Forest Service water bombers seven hours to get the blaze under control. The Southeast Fire Centre personnel then spent Sunday finishing up the mop up to prevent any flare ups.
The man was mowing the weeds in an used field when he looked behind him and saw the fire, said Heriot. He called in the fire department right away and his quick action likely helped in containing the blaze, said Heriot.
“It was a stroke of bad luck,” said Heriot. “I’m not sure a lot could have been done to prevent it.”
No homes were lost in the blaze. Only an abandoned shed in the middle of a field was lost, said Heriot. The fire did come within a 30 feet (nine meters) of a mobile home in the area.
“That could have been a potential loss,” said Heriot.
Summer is gone and criminal activities calming down
Grand Forks RCMP staff sergeant Jim Harrison said this past week the number of files police have opened is down to 114 from the usual 154 they’ve had every week over the past eight weeks.
“This tells me summer is wrapping up slowly,” said Harrison. By October he expects the number of files to be down to the usual 68 to 90 a week.
Reserve constable Chris Cottril wrapped up his stint at Christina Lake over the Labour Day long weekend. Harrison said overall it was a good summer at the lake, despite some of the tragic accidents. He is issuing a full report on the lake activity to Regional District Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) Area C director Grace McGregor later this month. The RDKB helps fund the full-time RCMP officer over the summer to help reduce crime and accidents at the lake.
The season for harvesting at marijuana grow operations has began, but so far Grand Forks RCMP have not had any busts yet.
“We’re no longer seeing the numbers we had in previous years,” said Harrison. “Either they aren’t as many, or they are getting better at hiding them.”
The Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament wrapped up with a few alcohol related incidents including between seven and nine streakers who ran out across the field from the beer garden and a number of drinking driving related charges, said Harrison.
Slashed furniture part of break and enter on 19th Street
Slashed living room furniture and $20 worth of children’s jewelery were stolen from a home on 19th Street in Grand Forks, Thursday, Aug. 30.
Police were called to the home at 3:20 p.m. The house was under renovations for an insurance claim for water damage.
Police have no suspects at this time but would ask the public to contact them with any information they may have at 250-442-8288 or call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Deer continue to plague city streets, causing accidents
A deer was at the heart of collision on Saturday, Sept. 1 in Grand Forks.
A deer was killed on Spencer Road and Highway 3 when a van hit it on the passenger side of the vehicle, causing over $1,000 in damages. The driver was not injured in the incident, which happened at about 7:15 p.m.
“The vehicle was not drivable after the accident and had to be towed from the scene,” said Harrison.
Harrison said police are having to put down between five and ten deer a week, including fawns, due to injuries caused by collisions with vehicles. He wants to remind drivers to keep an eye out for deer while driving on our streets. Deer are especially active at dusk and dawn.
Courtesy caused the accident
A courtious driver should have been looking behind him before backing up in an accident on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 8:21 p.m.
The vehicle was stopped at the intersection of McCallum View Drive and 19th Street when a DC Chambers truck was trying to turn. So the driver of the private vehicle backed up to accomodate the wide turn the truck needed to make and rearended the vehicle stopped behind it, said Harrison.
There were no injuries in the incident and only minor damage to the vehicles.
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