A grass fire outside of Merritt threatened homes on the Coldwater Reserve but was eventually put out by the Coldwater Fire Department with help from the Merritt Fire Rescue Department and the Kamloops Fire Centre.
“The fire started on Coldwater earlier on the weekend,” said Kayla Pepper, information officer for the Kamloops Fire Centre. “We were called to assist April 1 around 2 p.m. We had four forestry personnel head out there. The main area of concern was adjacent to a home. It was about three hectares of land that they were really working to suppress in order to preserve the homes in the area. But the fire was much larger than that.”
Pepper estimated the fire to be over 100 hectares in total size. The fire started from an open burning that was spread by gusting winds.
“It’s a reminder of how volatile the conditions are out there,” she said. “Open burning is still permitted throughout the fire centre area as people clean out their yards.”
Coldwater Fire Department chief Ron Aljam said the fire started at around 1 p.m. on April 1 and was contained by 6:30 p.m. on the same day.
“It started on a grass field at the bottom of the hill and then crept up toward a single unit,” he said. “One house was in danger for sure, but we, along with help from the Merritt Fire Department and the Ministry of Forests Wildfire Protection, put a wetline to ensure the fire didn’t spread too vigorously up the hill.”
There have been 11 total fires in the Kamloops Fire Centre area since March 29 and all have been person-caused.
“That’s above average,” said Pepper. “Usually in this time period, we’re only seeing about three fires, so we’re up eight fires at this time. There are a couple of reasons why. We’re seeing record breaking temperatures throughout the province. As the snow melts, we see the grass is very tall from last season. It started to cure and dry out. When you have open burning and maybe the weather starts to change – you see the winds start to spread the fire farther and faster. People can’t suppress the fires themselves and we get called in.”
Aljam said he was appreciative of the quick response from the Merritt Fire Department and the Ministry of Forests, who each sent small crews to help with the fire.
