Crews from multiple fire departments extinguished a wildfire on an ecological reserve north of Ladysmith.
Ladysmith Fire Rescue, North Oyster and North Cedar fire departments and B.C. Wildfire Service reponded to the scene of a fire at the Woodley Range Ecological Reserve at the top of Aho Road southeast of North Oyster.
Donna McPherson, fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre, said the fire is 1.5 hectares. The fire was reported about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and is suspected to be person-caused.
She said fires in ecological reserves are occasionally approached differently, but won’t be in this case.
“The only times when I’ve every heard that it impacts is when you have a large ecological reserve and the only way to go in and deal with the fire would be with heavy equipment and then we’d have a conversation with the land manager about … whether the equipment would do more damage than the fire would,” she said. “But this is … not in the back of beyond.”
Two B.C. Wildfire Service helicopters responded to the fire sourcing water from nearby Michael Lake.
“It’s hot and dry out there right now so we’re hitting it pretty hard,” McPherson said.
North Oyster fire captain Kris Hill said the fire is now extinguished, and ground crews “mopped up” fire spots on the thin duff layer.
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