A shared sigh of relief was breathed following Silver Creek firefighters’ quick response to a structure fire.
Around 4:30 in the afternoon Thursday, Aug. 3, the Silver Creek Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at Agar Road. Firefighters arrived on scene to find the fire had spread into grass and trees.
“We had water on the fire and extinguished it within 10 to 15 minutes,” said Fire Chief Darcy Blair, adding the blaze was contained to an area of approximately 40 by 100 feet. “It was extinguished and we were in mop-up stage within 20-25 minutes.”
Firefighters remained on scene for a little over an hour.
Blair chalked the cause of the fire up to human error.
There was no damage to the residence on the property, and Blair said a roadway on the property acted as a natural break behind the fire, slowing it down. Otherwise it may have continued climbing towards Mount Ida, at which point the BC Wildfire Service would have been called for assistance.
Blair thanked his crew for the quick response. He acknowledged, with the smoke-filled air due to wildfires in the region, the heat and drought conditions, that people are “definitely on edge, and they have the right to be on edge.”
“I know they were a little anxious at the EOC (emergency operation centre) there with everything going on and what was going on here,” said Blair, adding Shuswap Emergency Program EOC personnel had a sigh of relief once they heard the structure fire had been extinguished.
Read more: Sicamous to receive funding to upgrade emergency response information systems
Read more: More military power needed to fight B.C. wildfires: Vernon pilot
lachlan@saobserver.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
Sign up for our newsletter to get Salmon Arm stories in your inbox every morning.
