The Quesnel Volunteer Fire Department was called out early this (Thursday) morning.
Fire Chief Ron Richert says they responded to an item fire on Abbott Drive in West Quesnel just after 2 a.m.
“Upon arrival, we had a dumpster and a tire on fire, quite close to the building in behind the Circle K Convenience Store. Crews quickly extinguished the fire and it did not spread to the building.”
Richert says they did check inside the building.
“Definitely there was some heat from the fire that transformed over to the building itself. Inside the building was a bit warm but we cooled it down and checked it with the thermal imaging camera, so just the radiant heat from that fire had transferred over, so we cooled everything down and it was quickly put out.”
Richert says a nearby resident called it in saying that they had seen the flames and that they were quite high at the time.
He says the fire was obviously deliberately set.
“Yes, we’ve had a rash of dumpster fires the last while. It’s quite concerning, obviously dumpsters don’t self ignite itself so it’s definitely concerning for us. We do get a lot of call outs in the middle of the night, usually a few a week for a dumpster fire.”
Richert says it is frustrating for fire fighters, but he says the bigger concern is if these fires spread to a building.
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