A Kelowna resident has been fined $250 for lighting fireworks contrary to City bylaw, but he’ll also have other damages to pay for after they sparked a blaze.
The Kelowna Fire Department was called out to the 500 block of Primrose Road in Rutland just after 6 p.m.
Chet Alexander said he heard a couple of pops outside his home and saw a wall of fire when he looked out the window.
“Sounded like a firecracker or some damn thing, a big pop,” said Alexander.
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The 3 metre tall cedar hedge on his property line was ablaze, threatening his truck that was parked in a nearby tent.
Alexander and his neighbours brought out garden hoses to get a start on putting out the fire until firefighters arrived.
The flames began to threaten a home.
“Those cedar hedges are like gasoline,” Kelowna Fire Department Captain Dave Leimert said. “You throw a spark to them and they go. And they go quick.”
Leimert said the resident was setting off a bucket of fireworks when the stand fell over, sending sparks into the cedar hedge.
“Just some neighbours having fun in the back yard,” said Leimert. “First day of spring?”
Leimert said the discharge of fireworks in the City of Kelowna is against the law unless a permit is acquired.
He said the resident who started the fire bought them legally in Beaverdell, south of Kelowna on Highway 33.