Small forest fire extinguished in Quebec's Oka Park
CTV
Quebec firefighters were deployed to the Oka provincial park Saturday evening to battle a small forest fire that was likely caused by a discarded cigarette butt, authorities say.
Quebec firefighters were deployed to the Oka provincial park Saturday evening to battle a small forest fire that was likely caused by a discarded cigarette butt, authorities say.
The fire is believed to have started near the Oka Calvary, a popular hiking spot about 60 kilometres west of Montreal, Noovo Info reported.
The Saint-Joseph-du-Lac fire department wrote on its Facebook page that it started tackling the fire at around 8 p.m. and assisted Pointe-Calumet firefighters in extinguishing the flames. Oka Mayor Pascal Quevillon told CTV News that the fire was brought under control at around 1 a.m. Sunday.
Stéphane Caron, a prevention and communications coordinator for Quebec's forest fire prevention agency, said a team was deployed to assess the small fire that burned about one hectare.
The Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU) spokesperson told CTV News that it's "very early" to have a forest fire in late March but that "it's still not exceptional. It's a situation that can happen."
"This year with the early disappearance of the snow cover it's a situation that we are prepared for. That's why we already had the forest firefighters on duty and we will see … whether there will be a lot of rain or not during the spring to find out if it will have an impact on the importance of the season," he said in an interview.
"We're talking about a fire that was probably caused by hikers with cigarette butts. Once again, cigarette butts cause fires in Quebec. People don't assess the danger of throwing away cigarettes on the ground."
