Large brush fire on Vancouver Island, woman hospitalized
The area has recently experienced drier than normal conditions
A woman was hospitalized over the weekend after accidentally starting a brush fire in Victoria.
The large blaze occurred near Beacon Hill Park around 1 p.m. Saturday when the woman set a fire near the beach and sustained minor burns on her head when she tried to put out the fire when it began burning uncontrollably.
Around 900 square metres burned before the fire was extinguished, and the Victoria Times-Colonist says the attending firefighters spent 90 minutes hosing the area down afterward to make sure the fire didn't start up again.
Officials state that the woman was not acting maliciously and was very remorseful, and are reminding public that beach fires anywhere in the City of Victoria are prohibited.
The region has seen drier than normal conditions this month, and BC Hydro states that the Puntledge River water supply forecast for March through to September is 77 per cent of normal.“I will say though that right now with the recent dry February and so far March has been very dry, the vegetation on the bank is extremely dry and it’s like a tinder box so the smallest fire will spread up the bank if the wind conditions are just right,” Victoria Fire Battalion Chief Doug Carey told the Sooke News Mirror.
British Columbia has has an active couple of wildfire seasons. Since April 1, 2018, the province saw 2,060 wildfires, which burned more than 1.3 million hectares. The previous season, the toll was $1.2 million hectares, causing damages of more than half a billion dollars.
With files from CHEK News.
