Fire crews get better of wildfire near Queens Bay
By Nelson Daily Staff
Rapid response by the BC Wildfire crews with assistance from Balfour/Harrop and North Shore Fire Departments managed to avert what could have been a major disaster near Queens Bay townsite Tuesday afternoon.
Balfour/Harrop Assistant Chief George Mathieson told The Nelson Daily the call came in shortly after 4 p.m. of a grass fire above Queens Bay townsite. Mathieson said a tree had fallen across the FortisBC main power line to Coffee Creek resulting in the small brush fire.
“We were really lucky an Initial Attack crew was still in Nelson at the time of the call,” Mathieson explained. “The crew was scheduled to go out on another call when this call came in.”
Mathieson said BC Wildfire firefighters responded to the top of the fire while Balfour/Harrop crews waited near the bottom for FortisBC to ground the line.
“We arrived to see a helicopter shower the fire with a few drops,” Mathieson said. “Within a few minutes three people from (BC Wildfire) called us.”
Mathieson said volunteer firefighters set up a water supply while BC Wildfire firefighters cut the fire off at the top. The helicopter with a bucket assisted with water drops onto the fire.
“We were lucky to have that helicopter helping,” Mathieson said. “There’s no way we would have been able to stop the fire from spreading without that helicopter dropping water.”
In all 12 members of the Balfour/Harrop department responded with mutual assistance of four members from North Shore. Mathieson said Balfour/Harrop members remained at the scene until well after 10 p.m.
FortisBC crews attended the scene Wednesday morning to remove the tree from the power line.
The Bridalveil Creek fire, listed on the BC Wildfire Service interactive map, is currently estimated at .20 hectare.
This fire season there have been 402 fires to date burning 35,639 hectares in the Southeast Fire Centre.
