Northerners help to contain wildfire near Killarney
A group of friends doing work on a camp in MacGregor Bay helped contain what could have been a devastating fire in Killarney Provincial Park.
Last Friday, they were working away on the island when they noticed a glow on the horizon, as an empty cottage had caught fire and the blaze was at risk of spreading quickly.
Scott Beaumont and friends were at his camp doing work on the property, when they were turning in for the night. They could see a glow on the horizon and quickly determined it was a fire.
"We called 911 and that was our first instinct, but it was the middle of the night and it's a remote area, so we weren't really going to get an immediate fire response so we called everyone we knew in the area," said Beaumont.
He wondered if they were going to have to evacuate the area if the fire spread. They were processing what was starting to happen and opted to investigate after they got a text asking for help.
They took a boat across the channel in pitch-black darkness where they found his neighbour working away on the affected island with a pump.
"We could see quite a blaze on the peninsula of the island," he said.
"My neighbour had a portable fire pump, there were trees burning, root fires everywhere, and it had just jumped to Baie Fine on the mainland and was at risk of moving up to Killarney Park."
Beaumont says they dismantled the pump and took it to the mainland side of the island, repositioning it to extinguish the fire to try and keep it from spreading further.
Their focus then returned to the cabin.
"We knew no one was coming at that point, so it was up to us, everyone we knew was sleeping and it was just poor timing that way, we would have had a lot more help otherwise," he said.
They worked throughout the night with three pumps to try and put out the blaze and quickly created a perimeter around the property. Beaumont himself found a pump in a nearby boat house that was full of acorns and holes.
"At this point, we're starting to make progress on containment. We realized this was going to be a marathon so we sat there with three hoses pulling from the lake, and extinguished the fire over the course of six hours. My pump had been leaking on me for about four hours and felt hypothermic at that point because I was just soaked," he said.
"We were able to get it at the point where we could see just embers and propped the pumps against the rocks so they'd fire on the building."
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Birch Island Fire Department arrived later in the day to assess the scene.
Beaumont said, "If we hadn't arrived when we did, this fire would have burned for seven hours before anyone would have seen it, it really could have done some damage," he said. "You know you do what you think is right and we're just grateful that we were able to make a difference there and protect the area."
Once it spread to the mainland, the fire was named Sudbury 12 by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
"There was a structure fire on an island, as a result of windy conditions it created a spot fire on the main land," said fire information officer Isabelle Chenard.
"That fire on the mainland was deemed out that afternoon."
Chenard said the fire on the mainland was contained to a tenth of a hectare, but during windy conditions, embers can travel upwards of 2 kilometres.
"It's really important to be mindful of the fire hazard and windy conditions if there are any fires around because it can spread to that much of a distance," she said.
There is no word yet on what could have caused the fire that burned down the initial camp involved with Sudbury 12.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.