Kelowna

A forest fire in Ellison Monday was a grim reminder that the season is far from over.

The Ellison Fire Department and Forestry crews were called to a half-hectare blaze shortly after 6 a.m. Monday in the Bata Road area, north-east of the Kelowna airport.

"By the time we found it, it was a couple of acres in size and a rank one or two," says Assistant Ellison Fire Chief, Ross Anderson. The top rank is six.

The fire was a little too close to home for Jim Stewart of High Country Forestry who logs the area.

He says Monday's fire should serve as a reminder that, even though summer is coming to a close, the forests remain tinder dry.

"The moisture content is down. We're getting some cooler days, but we're not out of the woods yet. If we look back to 2003, the Okanagan Mountain Park fire went until the end of September. So, we still have a few more weeks of dry conditions unless we have a weather change."

The immediate forecast is calling for showers.

No word on the cause of Monday's fire.

Kelly Hayes reports from scene.