Fire crews in Vancouver responded to 13 fires on Monday, four of which were burning at the same time and one that appears to have been set intentionally.
The City of Vancouver said in a release Tuesday, that the 13 fires with damage operated within 24 hours.
The city says multiple fires were caused accidentally by people carelessly throwing away smoker’s material. One was caused by accidental misuse of ignition material, and one incident was intentionally set near a gas main.
Vancouver Fire Rescue Services’ Information Officer Matthew Trudeau tells CityNews that it wasn’t the total number of fires that were challenging, but rather facing multiple at the same time.
“It was a really challenging situation of having multiple working fires going on at different parts of the city all at the same time,” he said. “Especially when we have resources that are a bit thinner than if we only had one fire operating.”
Trudeau says the main cause of fires in Vancouver is smokers’ material “specifically related to drug use,” including four out of the 13 on Monday.
“[It] really highlights the importance of being mindful and safer when you’re discarding these materials,” he said.
He says it is crucial to discard cigarette butts into a metal container or a non-combustible container with water or sand in it.
Trudeau says several people have been putting cigarette butts into dirt or flower pots, but that is not the right way to discard them.
The officer says that with heat and dry conditions fires burn even quicker. He says people may have gotten used to the fact that fires don’t happen in wet and cold weather and don’t expect flames to ignite.
Trudeau says, on Monday, one of the most concerning fire events was allegedly arson.
“Thankfully we had people in the area who were able to call quickly of seeing flames shooting out the back of a commercial occupancy,” he said.
Trudeau says a TransLink operator was able to spot the fire and use an extinguisher on the fire early.
He says the incident is under investigation by the Vancouver Police Department.
–With files from Srushti Gangdev.