An air tanker makes one of several drops onto the forest fire at Willowbrook on August 12.
Lyonel Doherty photo
A small wildfire in Willowbrook created some tense moments for firefighters and residents on Monday.
Smoke was seen on a mountain above Johnson Crescent late in the afternoon, when members of the Willowbrook Volunteer Fire Department gathered at the hall to prepare for the worst. But the fire wasn’t burning aggressively, and there was little wind to fan the flames.
Fire Chief Brad Fossett stationed members on Johnson Crescent to protect the homes in case the blaze made its way down the mountain. But it never did.
Firefighters could not access the area because there was no road up to the site, and the terrain was too steep to navigate.
Within an hour, air tankers dropped fire retardant on the flames and stopped the spread. Helicopters were then utilized to drop water on the area, with work continuing on Tuesday.
Fire information officer Melissa Welsh from the Kamloops Fire Centre said the fire was estimated at 0.8 hectares in size.
She noted that five personnel were monitoring the site Monday evening.
“The fire was inaccessible by road (for ground crews), so today (Tuesday) an initial attack crew will be working on establishing access to the fire (constructing a heli-pad on top of the hill where the fire is burning),” Welsh said.
She noted the fire was close to structures, but did not threaten them.
The cause is still under investigation, but the fire could have started from a lightning strike.
Lyonel Doherty
Oliver Chronicle
