WESTLOCK - Minimal snow cover this past winter, combined with recent warm weather and high winds has kept Westlock County firefighters busy this spring.
Volunteer crews have already responded to a few grass fires, but late Tuesday afternoon, April 6, they were called to a fairly inaccessible and all too familiar area — the Echo Lake area near the old Athabasca Landing Trail in the southeast portion of the municipality. Initial reports indicated quads, dirt bikes and shooters were in the area and the fire was reported by person who spotted it and called 911.
“It was started by an abandoned campfire in a secluded low point, and it might have even been started the day before the fire,” said county manager of protective services John Biro.
“It was already creeping around in the grass and it was quite obvious where it came from. The campfire was built over basically a root system from a previous fire … it was lit just above the root systems which sparked into the ground and once the snow disappeared, it came alive again.”
Around 20 firefighters from multiple county departments were on the scene for about five hours as brush trucks and ATVs were also needed. Biro said a Cat was also enlisted to “tight line it for us, so we didn’t have to worry about it.”
“It was a secluded area, so it was very difficult for us to get to with larger trucks (which included water trucks and a fire engine on scene), so we had to use our light duty trucks. A lot of it is just manpower,” said Biro.
The fire was confined to about 10 acres in an area of concern where fires have occurred far too often over the past half-dozen years.
“Our concern, whenever we get something east of Clyde, is that it can be pretty big,” he noted. “We’ve got populated areas there, too. It’s a big concern and that’s the first thing that runs through your head as you’re responding is are we going to have to get someone out of the way? Do you fight the fire, or advise people to get the hell out of the way? Our resources are limited.”
There is a fair bit of litter beside the Landing Trail where vehicles enter to the site of the fire including spent shotgun shells, broken and unbroken clay pigeons that were used for target practice, campfire sites and even a couple of practice arrows. But that is nothing, according to Biro.
“If you ever went in there where we were … it looks like a landfill. It’s awful. It’s disgusting.”
Biro noted while there are calls to close the area off completely, he said the problems are only caused by a few careless people, and luckily, someone was back there and called. Otherwise, he said, it could have been much worse before it was noticed. He added with that with COVID-19, a lot of people are trying to get out of the city and go camping, which is also a cause for concern.
