Cumberland fire chief warns trail users after overnight fire

COURTENAY, B.C. -

A Vancouver Island fire chief is asking off-road vehicle users to exercise extra caution after his crews extinguished a wildfire near the village of Cumberland on Friday morning.

“It’s windy and the grass and bush is dry and it only takes an ember,” said Cumberland Fire Chief Mike Williamson.

Crews were called to a one-acre fire near the intersection of Lake Trail Road and the Comox Logging Road shortly after 4 a.m.

“It was burning towards the edge of the road and I was scared it was going to jump the road because there are houses there on the other side of the road off of Lake Trail Road,” Williamson said.

Williamson believes the cause of the fire was either a dropped cigarette or a motorcycle muffler igniting dry grass.

“People that live out there tell me that they were hearing motorbikes out there around 11 o’clock last night,” he said. “[The fire] was right on the trails and the bike trail runs right through the middle of the fire.”

Williamson says the property is owned by Hancock Forest Management and is commonly used by mountain bikers and motorbike riders.

“We concentrated on the front and it was blowing pretty good this morning,” Williamson said. “It was probably blowing about 30 kilometres an hour and the ashes and flames were blowing onto the road about 30 feet high.”

Crews spent approximately five hours on scene before their mop-up efforts were completed.