‘Just engulfed’: Victoria grass fire highlights risk of tinder-dry conditions

A adjacent telephone involving a grass fire successful Victoria is being held up arsenic an illustration of really tinder-dry conditions are correct now.

The flames collapsed retired connected Tuesday on nan enarthrosis of Highway 17 adjacent Royal Oak Drive and dispersed quickly.

“When we came retired nan writer conscionable engulfed, nan occurrence was awesome and it was moving fast,” said Jason Salsbury, who manages nan Wildwood Outdoor Living Centre conscionable crossed nan street.

“That writer was dry. That full area scorched wrong 15, 20 minutes. And erstwhile location was a gust of upwind nan flames reached astir 10 feet gangly quickly.”

By chance, a vacuum motortruck loaded pinch thousands of litres of h2o happened to beryllium driving past and stopped to help.

“They proceeded to do what they could earlier nan occurrence section came,” said Curtis Harold, wide head of H2X contracting, which operates nan truck. “Hitting it correct distant and knocking it down initially astir apt gave a batch of clip and saved immoderate of nan trees arsenic well. First consequence connected those things is imperative.”

Once firefighters arrived they were capable to sound nan flames down successful astir 10 minutes, without immoderate harm to adjacent buildings, Salsbury said.

The incident comes pinch nan occurrence threat standing crossed nan Capital Regional District (CRD) listed arsenic 5, aliases extreme.

Just 40 kilometres to nan west, BC Wildfire Service and CRD crews proceed to conflict nan Old Man Lake occurrence adjacent nan Sooke Potholes Regional Park.

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That occurrence has grown to 169 hectares since it was discovered connected Monday and has forced nan park’s closure, but occurrence officials opportunity nan blaze is moving distant from immoderate captious infrastructure.

“I tin corroborate that maturation connected this occurrence is trending towards nan inaccessible aliases unsuppressed flanks of nan fire, that’s distant from nan organization and distant from those infrastructure values for illustration nan watershed,” said occurrence accusation serviceman Sam Bellion.

“We person crews connected tract astir nan timepiece and they are evaluating things for illustration weather, occurrence behaviour and those section conditions to guarantee they, and folks successful nan vicinity astir them are safe to beryllium there.”

With conditions arsenic barren arsenic they are, however, Salsbury said nan writer occurrence should beryllium a informing to everyone astir really quickly fires tin get retired of control.

“You spot it connected nan news, it’s ever location else. So erstwhile you spot it crossed nan street, it’s stark. Like we were each conscionable successful a spot of shock, particularly really accelerated it happened,” he said. “So beryllium smart.”

The origin of nan occurrence remains nether investigation.