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Vancouver Island’s first wildfire of the season contained near Sayward

Coastal Fire Centre will be re-assessing fire bans after Canada Day long weekend
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A small fire near Sayward was caused by lightning June 28. Photo courtesy B.C. Wildfire Dashboard

Lightning strikes on Tuesday sparked the first wildfire of the season on Vancouver Island.

The fire near Menzies Bay is very small, roughly the size of half of a football field and is not threatening any infrastructure or people, according to Christi Howes of the Coastal Fire Centre.

“It’s under control,” she said. “We’ve got two initial attack crews out assessing along with additional response officers.”

The fire was caused by lightning.

“We had that lightning storm that blew across the Island and through the province,” she said. “There were a few little spot fires.”

Two other small fires located in Bute Inlet were caused by lightning at around the same time, as were a few others throughout the province.

Though the Island did see the first hot weather of the year over the weekend, Howes said that the cooler temperatures and precipitation has also had an effect on conditions.

Howes said that the Coastal Fire Centre has been fielding numerous phone calls about the state of fire bans in the area.

“We’re getting a lot of calls from people asking if they can have a camp fire,” she said. “Right now there’s no prohibitions. We’ll reassess after the long weekend.”

RELATED: A timeline of B.C.’s record-setting extreme heat event in June 2021

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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com

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