Public got in way of fire department

The curiosity of the public was a potentially dangerous inconvenience to the Lumby fire department this week.

A fire broke out in the industrial area of Lumby on Thursday evening, a wood chipper machine caught fire.

However, instead of getting out of the way of emergency officials, members of the public parked near the scene to watch the action.

Fire chief Tony Clayton says it made it harder for them to get access to water.

“The location of the fire required us to bring in water and the public got in the way of the trucks as they were trying to get to the nearest hydrant. Ultimately, it didn’t make a difference to damages of the fire, but it could have,” says Clayton.

He says it took crews nearly an hour to get the fire under control and they remained on scene for more than five hours.

“It was a big fire, caused a lot of smoke. Lumby’s such a small area that everyone could see the smoke, so of course some lookie-loos are going to come down and see what is happening, but I’d like to remind people to stay out of our way in those situations. Let us do our jobs.”

Clayton says the company which owns the chipper already had some employees using water hoses to try and put out the fire.

“When we arrived, the fire was basically fully engulfed. It did spread to a nearby woodchip pile and with the wind there was some concern it could spread more, but we got it under control.”

He says the fire is being looked into, but it’s looking accidental.