Fire on side of Vernon road deemed suspicious

VERNON – A small fire on the side of Old Kamloops Road in Vernon will go down as suspicious.

Deputy Vernon Fire Chief Lawrie Skolrood says the grass fire, which started around 9 p.m. Aug. 25, grew to about 40 feet by 20 feet before crews arrived and knocked it down.

“Crews got it very quickly,” Skolrood says. “It was discovered by someone driving by.”

The fire started one to two metres from the edge of the road, which sometimes suggests a cigarette butt is to blame, however Skolrood does not believe that was the case here.

“The evidence doesn’t really stack up that way,” he says, noting the temperature and relative humidity that night do not support the theory.

But, he says it’s unlikely the fire started without a little human help of some kind.

“We had some burned paper in the area of origin, but that could be a burn over (from) trash on the side of the road. So it’s hard to say if that was utilized in the start or not, but it will go down as suspicious,” Skolrood says.

He’s reminding people to be fire smart and report any signs of smoke or flames immediately.

“It’s still very dry out there and it doesn’t take much. We are in a high danger risk category still and probably will be for a while,” he says.

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