By Tom Mark

Residents Quick To Stop Grass Fire

Jul 21, 2017 | 11:14 AM

Quick work by citizens may have prevented what could have turned into something more serious last evening.

Vernon Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Scott Hemstad says a grass fire started in the 6800 block of Cameo Drive just before 6:30.

“Some local residents noticed some smoke. I don’t know if they saw flames but they noticed what was going on there, went out put some water on it with a pail and put it out pretty quickly.”

Firefighters got there soon after to finish the job.

“Did much of the same, just basically put a little bit more water on it with a pressurized water extinguisher and dug a little bit of a fire guard around it. It was small area, like 10 feet by 10 feet. It was pretty small.”

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Hemstad had high praise for the residents for spotting it and acting right away, possibly preventing something larger.

There’s no indication how the fire started.

“No. We dug through it and talked to the neighbours there and couldn’t come up with a cause. There’s nothing obvious in that field, so, really don’t know what the cause was.”

He says though it does highlight how easy it is for a fire to start right now.

by Tom Mark