Power was out for more than 2,500 BC Hydro customers in the Pender Harbour area Thursday morning after a transmission line came down in the Mason Road area of Sechelt.
Sechelt deputy fire chief Dwight Davison said the department was called out around 8 a.m. for a report of a brushfire near the area where the BC Hydro high-voltage line feeding the Malaspina Substation crosses Mason Road just north of Reeves Road.
Davison said four trucks and 20 firefighters responded to the call, and found the power lines down and two small fires burning – one about 50 metres by 50 metres and the other about half that size.
Sechelt fire crews were able to get the fires under control, and a Wildfire Service crew was brought in to help keep the fire from spreading as a result of the high winds, which are thought to have brought the transmission wires down in the first place.
BC Hydro had the power restored by 10:45 a.m.
The combination of dry weather, warm temperatures and wind has created a situation where a wildfire could spread quickly. Davison said the Sechelt Fire Department wants to remind people to be careful with campfires and discarded cigarettes or other smoking materials.
The fire danger rating is moderate for now and campfires are still permitted, although so-called Category 2 fires, the burning of piles of material smaller than two metres high and three metres wide, stubble or grass fires, fireworks and burning barrels and cages, and the use of binary exploding targets are banned.
If you have a campfire, check municipal bylaws first and keep it smaller than one-half metre by one-half metre and have water or a bucket with enough sand to fully extinguish the blaze handy. Do not leave a campfire unattended until it is completely out – meaning the embers and cold to the touch.
