(file photo/Vernon Matters Staff)

By Liam Verster

Grass Fire

Quick actions by neighbours helped stop grass fire in the BX

Oct 7, 2025 | 2:53 PM

A grass fire that sparked in the BX area was quickly contained Tuesday afternoon thanks in part to citizens jumping in to help.

BX Swan Lake Fire Department received a report of a grass fire at a property on Ranch Road around 1:30 p.m., Oct. 7.

“We had about a 100 by 75 foot creeping grass fire, Rank 1 (smouldering ground fire) but possible Rank 2 spreading up a few trees,” BX Swan Lake Fire Chief, Bill Wacey, told Vernon Matters.

“It was fortunate the neighbours happened to sport it, smelled the smoke and spotted it, and as everybody knows there’s still no fires allowed until the 31st of October, so he came out and looked and him and the other neighbour actually started a little bit of a bucket brigade to knock it down until we were able to arrive on scene.”

Fire crews contained and extinguished the fire before it could reach any structures. After doing a sweep of the site with thermal imaging cameras to ensure there were no more hotspots crews were able to leave the scene around 2:30 p.m.

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The fire was suspected of being accidentally caused by a cook fire that Wacey said was used a couple days before.

“It’s always extremely important to make sure that your cook fires are out completely, and even sometimes check them a day or two later just to confirm it,” Wacey said.

The fire chief added the cooler, somewhat wetter weather may lead people to believe that fires are permissable in the area, but he reminded people that open burning remains prohibited and that the fire danger rating will remain high until there is “torrential downpours” to offset the ongoing drought conditions.