This November the fire danger rating in the South Okanagan is still high.
Tinder-dry conditions have pushed wildfire season well into fall which has sparked a fire safety reminder from officials.
Oliver, B.C., fire crews battled a grass fire Sunday night that is believed to have been started by fireworks.
“We had officers respond directly to investigate that and immediately you could see from town the glow from that fire just up on the hillside,” said Oliver Fire Department spokesperson Rob Graham.
The fire broke out around 9 p.m. near Fairview Road which according to Graham is a popular spot for people to have bonfires and set off fireworks.
It was all hands on deck to extinguish the fire, which quickly grew to four acres in size.
“We responded with a couple of our engines, a couple of our water tenders and brush units,” said Graham.
“We just proceeded to put out protection lines and protection guards just to knock everything down as quickly as we could.”
Following the grass fire, the Oliver Fire Department reminded the public to be careful with fire-related activities and that opening burning restrictions have been extended in the area until Nov. 15.
“I mean as far as restrictions go, usually in the middle of October we’re seeing open burning bans lifted and a lot of farmers here are pulling out orchards or they’re doing pruning and obviously having burn piles. So, we’re generally seeing that in the middle of October,” said Graham.
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