Smoking tree stumps and the scent of charred wood have left parts of the Tremblay Beach Conservation Area in Stoney Point unrecognizable.
Residents visited the park Saturday morning to see the damage after Lakeshore Fire responded to a large fire on Friday evening.
Darryl Mayor, a Stoney Point resident who lives minutes from the conservation area, said he was travelling home from work with his wife around 4:00 p.m. when they noticed the “massive” plumes of smoke.
“I picked up my son, we actually came to drive down here, but I saw the fire department, so we went up and down [County Road] 22 there,” Mayor told CTV News.
“We could see the flames coming over the solar panels, and it was crazy black smoke everywhere. It was wild.”
Located along Lake St. Clair, Mayor and his family often turned to the conservation area for walks or tobogganing.
Mayor believed much of the burnt area consisted of an invasive species, which left the area overrun with “thick” brush.
“It was it was quite alarming to see it yesterday,” he said.
OPP attended the scene on Friday evening and asked the public to avoid the area as crews battled the blaze.
An OPP spokesperson told CTV News the incident was a “non-suspicious” fire.
In an emailed statement, Alex Denonville with the Municipality of Lakeshore said the fire remains under investigation.
“On Friday, March 14, Lakeshore Fire Department responded to a fire at the Tremblay Beach Conservation Area. The fire is now under control and there are no injuries to report,” Denonville said.
CTV News has reached out to the Essex Region Conservation Authority for comment, but did not receive a response by publication.
While the park will likely take months if not years to regrow where ash now sits, Mayor said the incident will not keep him from visiting.
“I’m actually going to go home and get the dog and go for a walk right now,” Mayor said.
