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The two hectare fire west of Campbell River is now 100 per cent contained, and Marg Drysdale of the Coastal Fire Centre (CFC) says the mop-up is progressing.
Twenty firefighters were on the ground working to contain the fire, located approximately 10 kilometre west of Campbell River.
“The retardant from the tankers really calmed the fire so that our people on the ground could make good progress quickly,” said Drysdale Tuesday morning. “We’ll have to see what the heat of the day does in terms of flare-ups around the edges, but they’ve got a good handle on it right now.”
The fire was reported at approximately noon Monday, and was quickly attacked by one air tanker group – dumping retardant – two helicopters and eight firefighters.
The fire has now been confirmed to have been "human caused," but there is an investigation ongoing to determine just what that cause was. Crews have only determined that it was not caused by a lightning strike smouldering in the ground.
If you see smoke or fire, the CFC asks you to report it immediately to their hotline at 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 on your cellphone. Multiple reports from the public allow the crews to narrow in on the location of wildfires more quickly and hopefully act to contain and extinguish them before they get out of hand.