Image: Chilliwack River Valley Fire Department / Following two fires in the Chilliwack River Valley this past week in which area residents were first on scene and lent a hand to stop these two wildfires from spreading, the Chilliwack River Valley Fire Department has asked residents not to put themselves in harm's way due to safety risks. CRVFD fire crews are pictured extinguishing a fire that happened Saturday, July 20 near Ford Mountain Correctional Centre. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Fires in Chilliwack River Valley

Chilliwack River Valley Fire Dept. asks area residents not to put out wildland fires due to safety risks

Jul 22, 2024 | 9:43 AM

CHILLIWACK — Following two fires in the Chilliwack River Valley this past week in which area residents were first on scene and lent a hand to stop these two wildfires from spreading, the Chilliwack River Valley Fire Department has asked residents not to put themselves in harm’s way.

Fires broke out Wednesday morning (July 17) and Saturday afternoon (July 20) in the Chilliwack River Valley. In the first incident, Chilliwack River Valley resident Derrick Kramer says he and another neighbour, Brian Smith, extinguished a potential forest fire near Riverside Campground. He stopped to check on a homeless camp near Riverside and noticed that someone had started a trailer fire. He grabbed firefighting equipment and sprayed down the smoldering fire as did Smith.

Image: Derrick Kramer / Post Creek resident Brian Smith sprays down the remnants of a trailer fire that happened Wednesday morning, July 17.

In the second incident on Saturday, July 20, someone traveling up Chilliwack Lake Road noticed a fire just east of Ford Mountain Correctional Centre, close to the 57600 block of Chilliwack Lake Road. According to Derrick Kramer, the alert bystander who noticed the fire drove to Post Creek, contacted a resident there and asked them to report the fire, as there is no cell phone reception around the 57600 block of Chilliwack Lake Road. At least two people subsequently hopped in their vehicles with fire extinguishers and a shovel and worked to suppress the fire. Chilliwack River Valley Fire Department firefighters were on scene shortly thereafter.

Additional details have emerged about the second fire. Chilliwack resident Tim Yochim wrote on Facebook that he and his family were hiking along the Trans-Canada Trail in the Chilliwack River Valley Saturday when they saw smoke ahead and heard loud crackling. They quickly realized there was a fire burning in the forest. Tim’s daughter had recently gotten a new IPhone with satellite capability that connects to a satellite when dialing 9-1-1.

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“She started texting with the emergency response, obviously the connection was with somewhere in the U.S. because they said the ‘sheriff’ and emergency responders had been notified,” Yochim said. “A car had also pulled over and we asked them to call 911 when they were able to get cell reception. Another vehicle gave me a ride back to our vehicle, one son and myself drove to the community just before Chilliwack Lake, we pulled into a yard. Two neightbours there grabbed some fire extinguishers and shovels and followed us back.”

Yochim says the fire had about doubled in size by the time they returned.

“They used the fire extinguishers on the larger flames and my son and I used the shovels,” Yochim wrote on Facebook. “Within about 10 minutes we had it contained, just as we heard the sirens from the fire truck. Soon after we could hear a helicopter arriving. Not sure how it started, a campfire pit nearby had nothing burning in it; there was a box of kleenex sitting on a log directly beside the fire but don’t know if that had a connection, likely human caused somehow. We found the fire at 2 p.m., the fire truck arrived about 2:45 p.m. Anyway, lucky we stumbled on it when we did, definitely added some excitement to our day!”

In light of the recent efforts by residents to extinguish fires, the Chilliwack River Valley Fire Department says it wants to remind everyone that they should not engage in firefighting efforts, saying it can be very dangerous.

“With the continued heat and Extreme Fire Danger, we urge the public to be very careful while recreating in the wilderness,” CRVFD wrote on its Facebook page Saturday evening, July 20 at 7 p.m. “If the public is in a ‘Hot Zone’ at an emergency scene, it can affect firefighting operations and compromise the safety of First Responders.”

Chilliwack River Valley Fire Department urges residents to dial 9-1-1 or *5555 to report a wildfire.