Only through good fortune disaster avoided as careless smokers cause second fire in five days in Osoyoos

Irresponsible and careless smokers are wreaking havoc in the Town of Osoyoos and it’s only through good fortune there haven’t been truly serious ramifications as a result.

For the second time in four days, a discarded cigarette butt caused shrubs to catch on fire and force business employees to rush to stamp out the fires while calls were placed to the Osoyoos Fire Department.

Around midnight on Thursday, the night auditor at the Holiday Inn Suites hotel in Osoyoos noticed the smell of heavy smoke.

Linda Griffiths, the Holiday’s Inn’s assistant general manager, said the night auditor did a quick check of the hotel and realized the smell wasn’t emanating from inside the hotel as none of the fire alarms had gone off.

The night auditor stepped outside into the hotel lobby and noticed shrubs across from the main entrance on Pioneer Walkway were “fully engulfed and 10 feet high,” said Griffith.

The employee ran back inside and grabbed a five-gallon bucket of water, and along with a second employee with another bucket, managed to douse the flames.

A guest at the hotel had observed the fire from her second-floor room and called 9-1-1, said Griffiths.

Members of the local fire department arrived within a couple of minutes and helped the employees put out the fire.

This comes four days after a visitor to the Tumbleweed Distillery on Lakeshore Drive in Osoyoos decided to flick his cigarette butt into some cedar shrubs in front of the building, forcing several employees, including owner Mike Green, to grab fire extinguishers and keep the fire under control until the fire department arrived several minutes later.

Tumbleweed Spirits just opened for business in early June after Green and his wife Andrea Zaradic worked for more than two years to make their dream of owning their own distillery become a reality.

The fire and smoke were so intense, it quickly burned part of the wooden and expensive front awning of the distillery, while causing smoke damage to the front windows, said Green.

“If this had happened at night without anyone here, the whole building would have went up in a matter of minutes,” he said. “We would have lost everything that we’ve worked so hard for over the past two-and-a-half years because some idiot decided to discard a lit cigarette butt into a cedar hedge.

“It boggles the mind.”

Griffiths said the potential for a disaster was fortunately averted due to the quick actions of hotel staff and members of the local fire department.

“If the hedge fire had not been put out quickly, there’s a real good chance we would have lost large parts of Pioneer Walkway,” said Griffiths.

“And if the wind had picked up and embers started flying, there’s no reason to not believe the fire could easily have crossed the road and lit up trees outside the hotel and then there could have been a real disaster.”

Griffiths, who admits she’s a smoker, said she finds it incomprehensible anyone would discard a cigarette butt at any time, never mind when there are fires burning across the province and Osoyoos is bone dry without having any precipitation for weeks.

“I would just tell all smokers to use common sense … and don’t discard your cigarette butts without taking every precaution to ensure they are out,” she said. “I can honestly say I’ve never discarded a cigarette butt in my life … I sure wish I could say the same for others.”

The fire at Tumbleweed Spirits happened just before noon on Monday.

A staff member serving customers inside the tasting room quickly detected smoke coming from a cedar hedge just outside the main entrance and quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran outside.

Green and the two owners of an adjoining auto detailing shop also grabbed fire extinguishers and started battling the blaze as well.

There was intense smoke and heat, but they managed to control the blaze until the fire department arrived, said Green.

Fire Chief Rick Jones arrived a couple of minutes before volunteer members arrived and the fire was finally put out, he said.

Green said he simply can’t believe that irresponsible smokers would even consider discarding cigarette butts knowing the dangerous fire conditions in this town and across the province.

“Discarding a cigarette butt that hasn’t been fully extinguished not only endangers property, but also human lives, pets and livestock,” he said.

“All smokers really need to take responsibility for their actions.”

Town Coun. C. J. Rhodes said this latest incident is troubling in many ways.

“First of all, a fire like that could have destroyed one of the most beautiful parts of our town … as Pioneer Walkway is very popular not only with local residents, but all the tourists that visit here,” he said. “There is also the group of volunteers who show up every Monday to clean up and spruce up that walkway … and they would have just been devastated.”

While smoking is and remains “a personal choice” and he never has judged anyone who smokes cigarettes, there are no excuses for irresponsibly discarding cigarette butts at any time, but especially when 40,000 B.C. residents have been evacuated due to massive wildfires across the province, he said.

“To me it’s absolutely inconceivable you could discard a cigarette butt anywhere when you know full well that incredible damage that is being caused by fires across this province … when many of those fires were caused due to discarded cigarette butts,” he said.

Osoyoos has thus far been spared from wildfires despite several consecutive weeks of blazing hot temperatures and hopefully this latest incident will prompt smokers to take extra care, he said.

These two incidents also cost local taxpayers as there are costs involved every time Jones and his volunteer firefighters are called out, he said.

“And those costs are eventually paid by local taxpayers,” he said.

This story will be updated with comments from Fire Chief Jones.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times