New Westminster Fire and Rescue Service is sounding the alarm about the number of brush fires taking place because of “bone dry conditions” during the summer heatwave.
Fire Chief Tim Armstrong is pleading with citizens to be vigilant as far as fire safety in the community.
“We have had close to 70 fires in the last two weeks, small fires,” he told the Record July 7. “They were small brush fires but they definitely could have materialized into bigger fires. We all enjoy the parks and greenspaces in New West and we’d hate to have a disaster as the result of a carelessly discarded cigarette.”
Armstrong said the fire department has attended many more brush fires than in past years, as have other municipalities. Surrey has had more than 300 similar calls.
“It’s a real plea from the community to be extra vigilant as far as fire safety goes,” he said.
Armstrong said most of the New West fires have been cause by cigarettes discarded into planters or bark mulch, often when people are leaving businesses or after smoking outside locations where smoking is prohibited inside. Crews have also attended a number of fires in planters around SkyTrain stations.
“Some of them are smouldering,” he said. “With some of them, we have actually had some brush fires.”
New Westminster has implemented a no-smoking ban in all city parks, natural lands and Glenbrook Ravine, which means there’s to be no smoking, no charcoal or wood-burning barbecues and no open fires in those areas.
According to Armstrong, fire crews have been going down to the ravine on a regular basis to water down the areas that are extra dry. They’ve also been doing night patrols, which includes checking the ravine and areas around the railway tracks for anything suspicious, such as smouldering or people using barbecues.
As a preventive measure, Armstrong said the parks department has cut back the section of grass on the McBride Boulevard frontage of Queen’s Park that’s normally allowed to grow wild. He noted that a discarded cigarette from a vehicle travelling along McBride Boulevard could quickly ignite that part of the park.
New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services is asking residents to report any signs of smoke or fire by calling 911 immediately.
The fire department has a specialized truck and other equipment that would help firefighters tackle a brush fire, whether it’s in a park, along the railroad tracks or somewhere else in the city.
Deputy fire chief John Hatch said the fire department’s vehicle fleet includes a smaller fire truck that can be used as a “pump and roll” capacity and allows firefighters to access more restricted areas, including Westminster Pier Park.
“This vehicle has the ability to move and deploy water, rather than being a stationary fire truck hooked up to a water supply,” he said.
The fire department recently purchased some forestry-type backpacks that allows firefighters to carry five gallons of water on their backs.
“We also have a small foam container that we put one per cent firefighting foam in with the water. When you apply it on a tree, grassland or a shrub, it adheres to it rather than the water just evaporating and rolling off,” Hatch said. “It’s like a liquid soap detergent but it will actually stick to the surface of an object.”
