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Photo courtesy BC Wildfire Service
Fire continues to burn
By Don Fennell
Published 11:16 PDT, Wed August 1, 2018
A fire burning since early Friday in the
Department of National Defence lands west of Richmond Nature Park is now fully
contained, but it will be several days yet before it’s fully extinguished.
“I expect it will probably be through to at
least the end of the week,” City of Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend said
Monday morning.
The ground is largely peat soil and fire can
burn quite deeply in peat, Townsend explained.
As a result, firefighters have to ensure all
12 hectares of the burned site is watered—“square foot by square foot
throughout higher areas.”
Thirty firefighters from Richmond Fire Rescue
as well as Vancouver, Delta and Port Moody were on scene Monday focusing on the
ground attack. Fire investigators were also present at the fire, the cause of
which remains unknown.
“It continues to be a very difficult
situation,” Townsend said.
The temperature at the site is about 15
degrees higher than measured elsewhere. It reached about 30 Celsius in Richmond
on Sunday.
The hot weather is expected to continue for
the balance of the week. Townsend is urging residents to exercise extreme
caution.
“It’s scary dry,” he said. “The risk of fire
is high, possibly moving to extreme in the next few days and increasing the
chances of other fires breaking out.”
Townsend said carelessly-discarded cigarette
butts continue to be the No. 1 cause of fires.
“That type of irresponsible action puts
everyone at risk. People need to get the message, but unfortunately that
message isn’t getting through,” he said.
Fifty-five firefighters, including crews from
the BC Wildlife Service—since reassigned to fight other fires around the
province—battled the Richmond bog fire on Saturday.
“It’s definitely taxing resources and
personnel,” Townsend said. “Obviously everyone knows the difficult and
dangerous jobs these firefighters have, but to see this type of experience and
the extra challenges on top of putting out the fire makes you have increasing
admiration for them.”
Staying hydrated is an extreme challenge, as
well as very tiring in heavily-forested terrain with uneven ground, Townsend
said.
Crews from Richmond’s City Works Yard have
also been assisting, setting up road blocks, helping to cut a path through
dense brush to the fire, and supplying drinking water for the firefighters.
Shell Road continues to be closed between
Alderbridge Way and Westminster Highway, and is likely to remain closed for the
foreseeable future. Townsend said people are being asked to stay away from the
area.
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