Madeira Park and Garden Bay firefighters battled a small bush fire on Wednesday that could have grown to a major blaze if not for the assistance of the B.C. Forest Service.
"We had great co-operation from forestry. When you're working on the ground, it's awfully nice to look up and see the helicopter in the air," said Pender Harbour fire chief Don Murray.
The fire department was called Wednesday afternoon about the fire located in the Daniel Point subdivision.
Murray said members from both Madeira Park and Garden Bay fire stations responded, along with a helicopter from the forest service.
"The fire wasn't very big, maybe 30 by 50 metres, but it certainly had the potential to get a lot bigger. It's plenty dry out there," Murray said.
While crews attacked the fire on the ground, forestry crews attacked from the air, dropping water from above.
"They had a bucket and dipped into Hotel Lake a couple of times," Murray said. "After we had done as much as we could, Forestry took over. I think they were there until about 7 p.m. We got another call around 1 a.m. Thursday that the fire had flared up again, so we went back out and were on scene until about 4 a.m. Thursday morning. I thought it was out, but Forestry did say initially that it had the potential to flare back up."
Murray said he was glad to see the co-operation from all the agencies involved and pointed out getting to the fire as quickly as they did probably prevented a major incident.
"The developers working in the area on a roadway called us right away," he said. "We got on it within minutes. It wasn't a major fire, but it could have been."
Fire crews have no idea what started the fire.
"It would be purely speculation at this point," Murray said.
Murray said fire crews will continue to monitor the area to make sure the fire doesn't flare up again this weekend.
