‘Labour-intensive’: Nanaimo firefighters douse 7 brushfires in 1 day

Firefighters in Nanaimo, B.C., were kept busy Sunday putting out seven brush fires within a 12-hour period.

It all started around 4:30 a.m. with a brush fire off Robin Hood Road, and ended with one around 4:45 p.m. at the intersection of Boxwood Road and Tulsa Road.

The largest and most challenging brushfire happened around 10:30 a.m. on the Northfield bluffs between Sun Valley Drive and the Nanaimo Parkway.

The fire started on top of the bluffs just below homes on Sun Valley Drive.

Neighbours ended up climbing the rock face with garden hoses trying to prevent the flames from spreading down the bank.

Fire crews had difficulty accessing the fire and three stations complete with 12 firefighters ended up helping out with the blaze.

The fire grew to approximately 45 metres by 76 metres by the time fire crews were able to put water on it. The flames were then quickly contained.

“Those types of fires just take quite a lot of work time and they are labour-intensive to go through the area and make sure it is all out,” said Geoff Whiting, deputy chief of operations with Nanaimo Fire Rescue.

Crews spent the rest of the day monitoring that particular fire.

The cause of all the bushfires is not known at this time, but since there has been no lightning in the area Nanaimo Fire believes all were human caused.

Fire officials are urging people to be very careful while out in any green space, especially with cooking and smoking materials.

“Even though the days are a little cooler it doesn’t mean the fire risk is going down,” said Whiting. “Until we get some good rains, everything is still very dry.”