Firefighters knocked down a brush fire at Simms Park in Courtenay Tuesday afternoon. The call came in at approximately 1:30 p.m., describing the fire as “about half the size of a football field.”
“It was about 100 metres long, 20 metres deep at its worst,” said Courtenay Fire Chief Don Bardonnex. “We had a small fire that spread through this cottonwood fluff here, that’s just like gas. Once you light it up, it just travels. It just runs through the cottonwood, then gets some dry growth and starts another spot fire.”
Bardonnex could not determine a definite cause for the fire, but said discarded cigarette butts are always a concern at this time of year.
“There’s no electrical out here, so the [only] other option is somebody actually lighting the cottonwood on fire,” he said. “A lot of cigarette smokers… people tossing their butts out of their cars… remind them that there’s a fine for that.”
Approximately a dozen firefighters were on hand to contain the fire, which was knocked down relatively quickly.
Bardonnex said it could have been much worse.
“A wind like we had this morning, a little heat, and yeah, she could go,” he said. “We are fortunate it didn’t.”
This was the second brush fire of the day. At 7 a.m. firefighters knocked down a brush fire along Anderton Road.
Bradonnex had a message to send out.
“Please be careful with your cigarettes,” he said. “We can’t push that enough. That’s the most common cause of this stuff, is people just getting lazy and tossing them.”