A bush fire at the intersection of Blackbear Road and Sechelt Inlet Road Monday evening was likely the result of a discarded cigarette butt, although the exact cause is still under investigation.
“At this time of the year when we have fires right along the side of the road, typically, when we investigate, we end up finding cigarette butts,” acting Sechelt fire chief Trevor Pike said this week.
The fire was consuming a small bush and starting to burn up a tree when the Sechelt volunteer fire department got the call for help on June 30 at about 6:30 p.m.
“The fire was approximately 10 feet by 20 feet in size and our fire department was on scene within four minutes and extinguished the fire rather quickly using engine four and an inch and a half foam line,” Pike said.
He cautions smokers to properly dispose of their cigarette butts in an ashtray, especially at this time of year “when everything is really dry.”
“Any time of year is not a good time to throw cigarette butts out, but particularly when it’s warm out, that’s all it takes to start a roadside forest fire,” Pike said.
