Crisp conditions have kept Surrey firefighters busy, tackling 12 separate brush fires on Monday alone.
This included a set of blazes along railroad tracks near Tannery Road and Timberland Road in South Westminster, which firefighters were called to extinguish at 8:15 p.m.
“As you can imagine this dry weather has just been very difficult to manage,” Assistant Chief Richard Bodnark told the Now-Leader.
It’s not known if a passing train sparked the fire.
“It could be anything,” Bodnark said. “As you know there’s a number of different reasons that a fire can start, any sort of ignition source in itself could cause that to happen. Sparks, cigarette butts, poorly discarded materials in the wrong place at the wrong time and then you add to it this dry weather conditions that we’re experiencing.”
In 2021 it was suspected that train sparks started a fire that burned down the village of Lytton, B.C. but a Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigation found no conclusive evidence of that.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Vanessa Munn said the Mounties’ arson co-ordinator was on scene with the fire inspector to try to determine a cause.
“They are still working to determine what the cause of the fire was,” she said at press time Tuesday.
As for recent brush fires in Surrey, Bodnark said “what for us, that was very fortunate, that with every one of these fires we’ve experienced is that we’ve had early notification, whether it be from public or private entities. Early notification allowed for quick responses and of course you know, we’re so proud of our crews, they do such a great job, they were very quick to handle all of that.
“That early quick response did not allow the fires to grow and get to the point where they could have been uncontainable.”
Meantime, the Surrey Fire Service is asking people to be vigilant and extra cautious right now given the hot dry weather.
“We’ve also partnered with bylaws and parks and rec. and we have been trying to spread the message and educate everybody, taking into consideration all of these elements of what’s going on, right. We’re very fortunate, you know, fire comes and puts it out, bylaws will later come and follow up, parks and rec. will come and follow up,” Bodnark said.
“We’re trying to be ahead of the curve, we’re trying to be proactive here. Just reminding people to be extra cautious would be beneficial right now and of course if they see something to call early. Quick response, early notification is imperative right now.”
Bone-dry conditions have also spurred the City of Surrey to ask residents to water thirsty older trees along their street this summer while city staff focus on keeping newly planted trees watered.
The city issued a press release Tuesday indicating there are some 86,000 street trees within the city and “additional water is crucial to their survival.”
People wanting to help out can get a free tree-watering bucket with pre-drilled holes in the bottom by calling 604-501-5050. To find out more about how to keep trees healthy, check out surrey.ca/trees.
The provincial government ordered a campfire prohibition on July 7 covering much of the southern coastal area.
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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