The Sechelt Fire Department was called out late Monday night for a fire at Salish Soils.
Fire Chief Trevor Pike said heat from decaying green waste and brush piled at the facility on Black Bear Road caused the material to start smouldering and catch fire.
The call came in around 11:45 p.m. and Pike said the department responded with five trucks. Firefighters were able to douse the blaze within about three hours with help from Salish Soils staff, who brought in equipment to break up the pile, allowing firefighters to get water into the debris from a ladder truck.
Pike said there was no danger to surrounding buildings and no real risk of the fire spreading, but the nature of the fire may have made it look quite serious to witnesses nearby. “It looks a lot worse than it is,” he said. “And with the wildfire season we’ve had, any time people see a big column of smoke and bright orange glow in the sky they get pretty concerned.”
Pike said the Sechelt Fire Department typically responds to one or two fires of this type every year.
