Smoker may have started West Kelowna grass fire that forced evacuations recently, examples, hundreds, started, Mandy

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Smoker may have started West Kelowna grass fire that forced evacuations


KELOWNA, B.C. — A smoker could have started the grass fire in Bear Creek Park that forced hundreds from their homes early Tuesday.


Trails used by hikers, dog-walkers and horseback riders criss-cross the provincial park close to where the 39-hectare blaze started Monday night. The owner of Mandy and Me Trail Riding recently has seen, or heard of, three examples of smokers tossing cigarettes along trails in the park.


"People are not conscious of the fact you throw a cigarette down . . . it can smoulder," said the horse-trail guide, who uses the name Silverado. "It's just sad."


The fire started in steep terrain up the western slope of Bear Creek Canyon. Forestry officials believe it ignited north of Bear Creek Falls. Trails extend up and down as well as across that area, Silverado said.


She knows of people riding a quad, a horse and in a truck discarding their cigarette butts in the park, albeit some distance from where Monday's fire started.


"We have to be very aware," she said. "We're still not cognizant of how dangerous we can be."


Forestry officials have called in a team to determine what ignited the conflagration. They're now focusing on the uphill trail system.


Traders Cove residents suspected high-school students held a bush party close to where the fire started, but police have all but ruled out that possibility.


Students from Mount Boucherie Secondary School held a pre-grad party Monday night at a site off Bear Creek forest road, but about seven kilometres uphill from where the fire started. Police escorted them out after midnight Tuesday as the flames spread.


"They were not anywhere near where the origin of the fire was," said RCMP spokesman Const. Steve Holmes. "It was quite a distance."


Firefighters had another good day Wednesday, fully containing the fire area and concentrating on hot spots. Emergency officials lifted the evacuation alert Wednesday afternoon and rescinded the air-quality advisory.

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A fire bomber drops fire retardant on Pinnacle Ridge in East Kelowna, B.C. in this September 7, 2003 file photo. A smoker could have started the grass fire in Bear Creek Park that forced hundreds from their homes early Tuesday.