Clearwater Fire Zone had its first fire callout of the season on Sunday evening – a 1.7 ha blaze on private property next to Dunn Lake Road south of Clearwater.
Forest protection officer Jim Jones reported he received the call at about 5:30 p.m.
The call had first gone to e-911, which had called Clearwater Fire Department. However, as the fire was located outside of municipal boundaries, the call was transferred to the forests ministry.
Unfortunately, because it is so early in the season, the fire zone had no initial attack crews on hand and so had to call in Clearwater and Blackpool fire departments under their mutual aid agreements, said Jones.
A Forest Service crew from Kamloops also attended, but it took about 2 1/2 hours to get on site.
A pickup chassis, cargo trailer and a few sheds on the property were burned.
Personnel from the two fire departments were in the scene for about three hours while the Forest Service crew stayed overnight.
On Monday the crew “cold-trailed” the fire to make sure it would not spread into the adjacent forest.
Cause of the fire is still under investigation but it appears to be the result of a “rave” that the property owner had organized for the weekend.
Jones reminded property owners, particularly those living in rural and remote locations, that they should have firefighting equipment located in a central location where it can be located easily in an emergency.