It's dry out there. Really dry.
Yes, we're stating the obvious. And yet, some people still aren't taking it seriously enough.
We've had a number of close calls of late when it comes to fires in the Cowichan Valley.
The Sahtlam Fire Department is thanking two individuals who stopped at a brushfire along Highway 18 recently. One was in a water truck and put the flames out, and the other stuck around to show the fire department where the fire had been when they arrived, so they could make sure that it was completely extinguished.
A few days earlier Mill Bay and Malahat fire departments responded to a brush fire in Bamberton.
Both of these are thought to be person-caused.
So too is the Sooke Potholes fire that continues to burn out of control at the time of this writing.
There is only one other fire burning on Vancouver Island, near Cedar, and it is listed as under control.
We are lucky. A BC Wildfire Service map of the province looks like the southwest has chicken pox, with red dots, denoting out of control wildfires, everywhere. And of course everyone has seen the terrible photos and video coming out of Jasper, Alberta, where a wildfire in the national park has levelled part of the community and done untold damage to the wilderness around it.
Until late last week we hadn't even seen much of the smoke from all these fires. This can lead us to have a sense of complacency, where we're not as careful as we should be.
But we, too, have to heed the warnings of just how easy it is out there right now to spark a devastating fire.
The Duncan fire department, which has seen a big uptick in calls, is begging people to be more careful.
All it takes is for someone to toss their cigarette butt from their car window into the bone dry grass or bushes at the side of the road, and poof, a fire that can get out of control within minutes. In Duncan, people dropping cigarette ends into bark mulch can be a particular problem, as many businesses and the city use the mulch to tidy beds with vegetation, and help the plants preserve water.
Too many people don't heed the rules on the ban on campfires, particularly on our beaches. Perhaps they think the sand or rocks and proximity to a large body of water makes it safe. But it is not safe. All it takes is for one spark from that campfire to be carried on the breeze into the scrub at the shoreline and we're in trouble.
Now is not the time to play with fire. Be ridiculously careful instead.
