Photo: BCWS file photo

The Lower Similkameen Indian Band was busy this week tackling two fires that spread beyond their intended targets.

The band shared details about the two wildfire incidents on Friday.

On Tuesday, around 3:30 p.m., LSIB said their management was notified by band personnel that a fire being used to burn yard waste, pallets, and loose materials had escaped containment.

"While personnel on site tried to extinguish the fire with hand tools, water, and dry-chemical extinguishers, the fire continued toward an LSIB maintenance vehicle and a stand of dry vegetation and ignited both," the band said.

"The vehicle was a total loss, and the fire continued to spread."

According to the LSIB, their investigation found that initial dispatch was slowed by incomplete information given by callers into emergency services.

Details were first provided to the regional Fire Dispatch Center in Kelowna and the Provincial Wildfire Coordination Center.

"This triggered a different response scenario from both Keremeos Fire Rescue, and the BC Wildfire Service under their standard protocols and LSIB support those processes established to coordinate a response."

To get things moving, commander-to-commander communication between each agency and the LSIB got real-time information for each service and a different response was then initiated.

"In this instance, the response of Keremeos Fire-Rescue was approved by the BC Wildfire Service on the basis that KFR could extinguish the vehicle and the surrounding wildfire, while the BCWS crew would take approximately one hour to respond," the band said.

"By WorkSafe law and BCWS policy, BCWS cannot action the vehicle fire due to not having the training and proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required to safely do so. Without BCWS authorization, KFR cannot legally attend to the incident without serious liability to their staff and equipment."

LSIB thanked the community members and employees who stepped up to fight the spread of the fire until fire rescue personnel arrived on scene to extinguish it.

To prevent similar incidents, the band encourages anyone conducting spring burning to have appropriate hand tools, a minimum of five gallons (19 L) of water available, and size of fire appropriate for the personnel and equipment on-site.

"LSIB would also like to remind any caller reporting incidents to dispatch centers to please stay on the line with your dispatcher, answer all questions provided (as they’re asked for specific reasons) and provide your call-back information in case further clarification is needed for responders. Dispatches to incidents are only as good as the information received."

The second incident took place on Thursday, March 20. LSIB members spotted a grass fire at around 6 p.m. on the west side of the Similkameen River.

The band said the fire was on a steep hillside facing in the north-east direction.

"An LSIB Guardian attended the scene and was able to prevent the further spread of the flames on the hillside. The fire was approximately 35 meters by 20 meters in size, including a dead pine tree on the ground, and was in dead grass that had shoots of new grass starting to sprout," the band said.

Luckily, the band said precipitation from Wednesday and the green-up of the hillside were key in preventing the fire from getting too much momentum and taking off uphill.

"With that said, if the LSIB Guardian had not attended, it could’ve spread much further and could have gained momentum with the terrain and winds that came in with the low-pressure system the valley experienced overnight. The precipitation was in favour of containing the fire."

The second incident is not believed to be accidental by the band.

"While LSIB encourages cultural fire being applied to the lands, it must be done under the wisdom of an elder and/or knowledge-keeper, applied in the proper weather conditions, used on grounds that are not greening up and must have enough resources to keep the fire contained to a specific area. Wisdom was not applied in any way to this incident," they added.

The LSIB said the lands are already hurting from the last many decades of improper fire suppression, the blocking of cultural fire application, the current drought, and the global climate change that is already happening.

"To heal the tmxwulaxw (lands), tmixw (all living things), our sqilxw (people), and to protect siw?kw (water), we must do it together...with all of our members and families, all of our relations, and our neighbours."