A fire broke out near Centennial Park on July 26 that was fortunately nipped in the bud by 100 Mile House Fire Rescue.
Chief Darrell Blades says a call came in to the office line at 2:03 p.m. reporting "smoke" so he immediately went to have a look, found a spot fire burning near the park, and then paged his crew at 2:12 p.m.
A total of 11 members and four trucks responded from the local department and set to work dousing the wild land fire, which he notes was less than a hectare in size.
The small blaze was just above a wooden bridge over Bridge Creek near a popular swimming hole, and adjacent to the soccer fields.
The fire crew initially concentrated on attacking the leading edge of the fire, Blades explains.
"There were a couple of trees candling, and then basically we knocked out the hottest spots ... dealt with the perimeter and spent the next few hours cleaning up the hot spots within the perimeter."
He adds assistance was also requested from the Wildfire Management Branch (WMB), which dispatched an initial attack crew of three firefighters, a response officer and a helicopter with a water bucket to provide assistance.
The chopper made a couple of passes over the area, but was not required to make a water drop, so purged its bucket nearby and vacated the area.
"They did a danger tree assessment for us and then left the scene in our hands. We had it contained and they just let us continue on with what we were doing."
At about 5 p.m. the WMB team left the fire in the hands of Blades and his crew, who then remained on scene cleaning up hot spots for about another hour.
The fire chief notes calling the fire hall when folks witness smoke or a fire is not the most appropriate course of action to take.
This is partly because the office phone isn't monitored all the time, he says, adding it is fortunate someone was available when the report came in.
"We had quite a few people call the fire department. Please, if you see smoke, call 9-1-1."
Since most of the department's resources were tied up by the park, Blades explains it requested the 108 Mile Ranch Volunteer Fire Department to cover 100 Mile House on standby, in case any additional calls came in.
He adds there was a rough area of origin found for the fire, anyone who may have information relating to the cause is asked to call the fire hall at 250-395-2152.
"We are leaning toward suspicious/accidental fire, as we haven't had lightning in quite a while, and there was no indication of any lightning scars on any of the trees close to that area."
WMB's Cariboo Fire Centre information officer Ellis Smith says she agrees with Blades on the likely source of the blaze by the park.
"It was human-caused, as there were no reports of lightning in the area when the fire ignited."
Log truck burns
In an unrelated incident, she notes a logging truck caught fire near Chasm at 5:30 a.m. on July 23.
The CFC was called for assistance to the scene at the 21.5-kilometre mark on the 3400 Road, which lies outside of any local fire department service areas.
Smith explains West Fraser Mills had two water tenders with a staff crew manning its hoses at the site that were able to contain the fire before CFC Initial Attack crews arrived.
The request for fire assistance was called off by 10:30 a.m. The blaze did not spread into the surrounding forest and is being listed as an "equipment-use nuisance fire" by the CFC.