Sooke Hills park fire contained

Fire crews have contained a 1.8-hectare fire in the Veitch Creek area of Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park.

The Capital Regional District said crews were dealing with a few “hot spots” Monday afternoon and monitoring the site to prevent flareups.

The B.C. Wildfire Service said about 19 people battled the blaze — nine from the service and 10 from the CRD.

Officials suspect a campfire ring found in the area was the cause of the blaze, which was discovered Saturday.

“We’re still investigating that, but it certainly looks to be the case,” said Mike MacIntyre, acting senior manager for CRD Regional Parks.

“That was an area where people shouldn’t have been camping or having a fire or anything like that.”

MacIntyre said the fire came close to a power line, but crews managed to contain the blaze before it reached the corridor.

“We got on this fire early and managed to contain it quite quickly,” he said. “But if we hadn’t, and it was drier and there was more wind and it spread faster, then who knows, right?”

With temperatures on the rise, MacIntyre urged people to act responsibly in parks and wilderness areas.

“Obviously, people need to be careful right now with any sources of ignition, whether it’s cigarettes or campfires or whatever it might be,” he said. “Conditions in the forest are dry and they’re getting drier.

“Certainly, with camping and campfires — people should only be camping in designated camping areas and having fires in designated campfire locations.”