Disaster averted in blaze
Rapid response and bit of luck help firefighters contain ‘campfire’ that got away on Penticton Indian Reserve property
It had all the makings of an inferno: loads of tinder-dry fuel, no water and a nice breeze. But a quick response – and a little bit of luck – Sunday afternoon allowed firefighters to contain the blaze to the Mauer Log Homes yard on the Penticton Indian Reserve.
“Fortunately we didn’t have a lot of fly ash from this – it stayed mostly in the grass, we got lucky that way – otherwise this could have gotten interesting for us,” Capt. Glen Beierle of the Penticton Fire Department told reporters while standing atop a blanket of log peelings.
Members of the Penticton Indian Band Fire Department were also on the scene.
The witness who called 911 to report the fire said it started near a tent set up in a grassy area next to the log yard.
“It started out as just a little campfire. I seen a little smoke there – it just got away,” said the witness, who gave his name as Ren.
“Then I seen a guy just hitting it with a rake. Then it would start up behind him and he’d turn around.”
Beierle confirmed he talked to a person who admitted he’d been using a burn barrel from which the fire got away.
Flames consumed a shack and tent, and moved on to damage vehicles and RVs stored on the site, but firefighters were able to protect numerous piles of sawdust, peeled logs and partially built log homes.
The wind was blowing south to north, meaning the fire would have been pushed towards the residential area of the Penticton Indian Reserve, but it was constrained to the west by the Penticton airport and to the east by the Okanagan River Channel and Highway 97.
Auxiliary members of the Penticton Fire Department were also called in to help mop up, a process slowed by the lack of hydrants in the area, meaning water was being trucked in from the other side of the Okanagan River channel.
“We’ll be here probably for a little while cleaning this mess up,” said Beierle.