Andrew Brydle (left), along with Wyatt Purvis and property owner Jan Frederick Ludvig helped quickly extinguish a brush fire along Haliburton St. Thursday afternoon. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

right place, right time

Nanaimo contractors act quickly to douse brush fire

Jul 11, 2024 | 5:58 PM

NANAIMO — Local contractors are being hailed heroes for quick action in extinguishing a brush fire.

Flames were reported coming from a wooded area next to a vacant apartment building undergoing renovations on Haliburton St. just south of the Days Inn on Thursday, July 11 around 4 p.m.

Andrew Brydle was one of a few workers fixing the apartments when he went to throw debris into a large bin on site.

“I looked over and saw a bunch of white smoke and I started screaming ‘Fire! Fire!’ We jumped right in there [with a garden hose and fire extinguisher]. My adrenaline was certainly running, it was pretty scary. We got it started for the firefighters at least, but they came in and did their job and took care of it.”

Brydle, along with another contractor Wyatt Purvis depleted two fire extinguishers and also used a garden hose.

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Nanaimo Fire Rescue (NFR) crews arrived and doused the fire, preventing any major spread in the wooded area.

While a cause of the fire wasn’t immediatly known, NFR estimated the fire was about 15 square feet in size.

A fire which broke out in a wooded area off Haliburton St. was quickly dealt with, as Nanaimo Fire Rescue crews prevented much spread. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

The work of Brydle and Wyatt was praised by property owner Jan Frederick Ludvig.

“It happened very quickly and we were quite concerned for the safety of folks that the fire was put out. Thank goodness Drew was here and Wyatt was here to really get quick boots on the ground and put that fire right out. If these guys weren’t here exactly there and at that time, this entire bush would have been up in flames.”

He said the pair “saved the day” and if they weren’t around “everything would have been gone”.

The apartments are empty for the time being with renovations expected to wrap up within a couple months and tenants then able to move in, Ludvig said.

He suspects people in the bushes “playing with lighters” were responsible.

“There’s been a number of time there’s been homeless people with pipes and drug paraphernalia smoking in the bushes over there.”

While remnants of a small homeless encampment was visible near the fire, nobody associated with the site was on scene.

Nanaimo RCMP briefly shut down a section of Haliburton St., stretching from Woodhouse St. to Highview Terr., to allow space for firefighters to work and to protect a live fire hose dragged across the street.

Conveniently a fire hydrant was located directly across the street from the fire scene.

Nanaimo Fire Rescue crews followed up on the efforts of local contractors to douse a small brush fire in south Nanaimo on Thursday, July 11. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

The fire danger rating in the Nanaimo area was raised to ‘extreme’ on Monday, July 8, the highest on the BC Wildfire Service scale.

A majority of Vancouver Island sits just below, at ‘high’ with diminishing pockets of ‘moderate’.

Beginning Friday, July 12, a campfire ban will come into effect for all areas of B.C. with the exception of Haida Gwaii.

The move effectively bans all open fires, with the exception of propane or other small burner-based fires used for cooking.

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