Wildfire in Casino area causes concern for residents
By Kyra Hoggan
A wildfire yesterday in the Casino area proved to be a fairly minor one, despite its alarming proximity to Trail residences, according to Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue chief Terry Martin.
“There’s a main power line heading out to Teck, and there was a fire in the cleared brush underneath,” said Martin, adding the call came in at roughly 4 p.m. on Monday. “Nine members from Company 4 (Trail) responded, along with Fortis.”
He said Fortis staff ruled out any power issues as possible causes of the fire.
“We have no idea how it started – whether it was lightning- or human-caused, we don’t know.”
He said the fire was roughly 150 by 100 feet in size and classed as a rank one fire, meaning it was burning low and not severe at all.
“There was no concern of the fire reaching residences,” he said. “We had it knocked down in about an hour, and the mop up took about two hours.”
He did, however, underscore the importance of reporting wildfires when you see them, as recent storms have the Southeast Fire Centre hard at work fighting 52 new fires in the region just since Monday (see https://castlegarsource.com/news/se-fire-centre-battling-52-new-blazes-monday-38622#.Va617rUpmGk ).
