Firefighters battle suspected human-caused blaze in Victoria park

Victoria firefighters spent the early hours of Thursday morning battling a large brush fire in a city park.

Fire crews were called to the Summit Park blaze at approximately 11:57 p.m. Wednesday for reports of a brush fire.

On arrival, firefighters discovered the blaze was larger than initially reported and called for a second engine company to help fight the flames.

"I could hear the crackling of the fire before the firetrucks showed up outside of my door," neighbourhood resident Dave Shortreed said in a video of the fire scene provided to CTV News.

In the video, Shortreed’s neighbour is using a garden hose to douse a slope of the park across from his home.

In an interview Thursday morning, Shortreed said he could smell smoke and then felt the wind change outside his home before he went out to investigate..

"At first I thought it was my house on fire because the smoke was so thick," he said. "I grabbed a hose and put a sprinkler out and then then went and woke up my neighbour."

Chief Dan Atkinson of the Victoria Fire Department says the fire covered approximately one half-acre of the park, primarily destroying ground cover and some of the park's trees.

No one was injured in the blaze, according to the department.

Firefighters remained on scene for about three hours before returning later Thursday morning to extinguish hotspots.

Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the blaze but it is believed to have been human-caused.

The chief says 2023 is already on track to be the department's busiest year on record, a title currently held by the year prior.

"All our call types, fires included, continue to rise," Atkinson said.

Summit Park is an 11-acre park in the city's Hillside-Quadra neighbourhood.

In 2011, the City of Victoria identified the park as home to the largest remaining stand of Garry oak trees in the city.