A spark from a trailer belonging to an RCMP officer is responsible for a wildfire burning near Lytton, B.C., police say.
The Izman Creek wildfire north of the village began around 2:20 p.m. PT on Tuesday, when the right side wheel of the officer’s trailer flew off, causing sparks to ignite the dry grass ditch.
It came a day after the fourth anniversary of a blaze that destroyed most of Lytton, and has since grown to 130 hectares and been upgraded to the only wildfire of note in the province.
“What appears to have happened is that equipment failure of an RCMP trailer resulted in the accidental ignition of the wildfire,” said Sgt. Kris Clark, senior media relations officer for the B.C. RCMP.
“The officer did stop immediately and tried to engage the flames with their fire extinguisher. However, the conditions obviously spread the fire very quickly and they were unable to contain the fire,” said Clark.
The trailer was carrying equipment for a police dive team that was searching for a missing swimmer in Seton Lake, about 100 kilometres northwest of Lytton.
The Izman Creek fire covered an area of 130 hectares as of 9:30 a.m. PT Thursday, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service, a more than quadrupling in size from the 25 hectares recorded on Tuesday night.
Two wildfires continue to burn in the Lytton area and have closed a portion of Highway 12 to all traffic except local drivers. Mayor Denise O’Connor is keeping a close eye on the fires, but said there is no major risk to the village for now.
The fire was upgraded to a wildfire of note on Thursday morning, a category of blazes that means a fire is especially visible or poses a risk to public safety.
Clark said the B.C. Wildfire Service was immediately notified after the accident and crews were quickly dispatched to combat the fire.
“It’s just another reminder for extreme caution,” said Clark. “It doesn’t take much to start a fire in our wildfire season. Conditions are dry and, you know, something, something small, simple can cause, you know, a significant wildfire.”
“I mean, it’s just a reminder how quickly something like this can happen … we’ve seen a number of situations where we’ve seen motor vehicle crashes or something like that where, you know, that have started fires,” said Clark.
Car crash fire near Merritt
On Sunday, a vehicle crashed on Highway 5A along the north tip of Nicola Lake, just outside of Merritt, and caught fire, igniting a bush near the shoulder of the road.
A witness said the driver of the vehicle swerved to avoid hitting a fox on the road, police say, however the driver refused a breath test by RCMP and was subsequently issued a driving prohibition by the officer.
There were 85 wildfires burning in B.C. as of about 12 p.m. PT Thursday, 34 of which were classified as out of control, including the Izman Creek fire.
The wildfire service says cool conditions and thunderstorms are in the forecast for much of the province, bringing a low-to-moderate chance of lightning.
It says nearly 75 per cent of blazes burning in B.C. have been sparked by lightning.
The Izman Creek wildfire has resulted in three properties close to the highway being put on evacuation order and nine other properties being put on evacuation alert by the TNRD.
The Lytton First Nation has also issued evacuation alerts for three properties along the highway.
There are two fires burning in the Lytton area. The smaller blaze, the Nikaia Creek fire, covered an area of just under six hectares as of 10 a.m. PT Thursday morning, and was classified as controlled.
The community is still in the process of rebuilding from the 2021 wildfire that killed two people and wiped out much of the village, as well as part of the Lytton First Nation. Its four-year anniversary was on Monday.
