Heavy machines built a fire break at a terrain fire in the Uplands Construction property near the Argonaut Road and Gold River Highway intersection around noon Wednesday.
Campbell River Fire Chief Dean Spry said a deep seated fire in a pile of stumps, logs and dirt may have been smouldering for weeks before being fanned to life by the wind. The fire spread to surrounding grasses and there was concern it would make its way into a stand of mature timber on the perimeter of the property.
The fire department responded at 11:47 a.m. with five pieces of equipment and 25 firefighters. The Oyster River Fire Department also contributed a tanker truck and the B.C. Forest Service responded with a helicopter and water bucket that dropped water on the fire. The fire was extinguished within two hours but mop up and hot spot control continued for another hour.
In a related development, the Coastal Fire Centre has instituted a Category 2 fire ban on the coast. This applies to burning of any material, piled or unpiled, smaller than two metres in height and three metres in width, including burning barrels.