Powell River Fire Rescue firefighters put out a fire in a cedar tree adjacent to the Willingdon Beach trail that appears to be human caused.
“There is no other reason we can come up with for the fire, so we are determining that it was human caused,” said fire chief Martin Drakeley.
He said fires such as this one occur occasionally, with people trying to keep warm and somewhat dry. He said normally, if the fire is safe, even though it is illegal, from a humanistic standpoint, the fires are allowed. The fires cannot be on private property.
“If it turns out that it’s not safe, then we ask them to put it out,” said Drakeley. “We haven’t had a lot of them burning out of control. This is the first one on the Willingdon Beach trail.”
Drakeley said the burning tree, which was above the high-water mark on the beach, was difficult to put out. He said the fire had gone up the centre of the tree, which was hollow. Being cedar, it burned rapidly, making the tree progressively weaker. The fire progressed a significant distance up the tree, according to Drakeley, probably 60 or 70 feet inside, to the top.
“We did a risk assessment and we had a certified faller on site,” said Drakeley. “We decided to cut the tree down for the sake of park-goers. Once the tree was down, we attacked it on the ground.”
Also, with this being Christmas season, Drakeley is urging residents to be fire safe, ensuring smoke detectors are working, and being careful in the kitchen while preparing food.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
