A West Side resident is concerned cut grass left to dry in the sun along the road and near the entrance to Pacific Spirit Park could act as kindling for nearby downed logs and brush in case of a wild fire.
“If you look at the picnic area there are cigarette butts all over the ground,” said Terry Slack. “With the fire risk so high I expected them to put up signs saying ‘no smoking,’ but instead they put up a little sign telling people where they can smoke.”
With multiple wildfires burning across the province, the provincial government raised the fire risk on Friday, Aug. 4, to “extreme.” Slack says a sign recently erected at the entrance to the park due to ongoing hot weather and high fire risk was a surprise.
Slack said it’s obvious people are ignoring the smoking ban in the park because there are cigarette butts scattered across the grounds of the picnic area. He’d like to see more signs and increased enforcement from Metro Vancouver, which governs the park.
Tom McComb, supervisor of operations for Metro Vancouver, said because the fire hazard jumped to “extreme” on Friday, Metro Vancouver staff members were posting signs around the perimeter of the park at the trail heads and kiosks that same day that read, “Fire Danger. No smoking. No fires. Stay on Trails.” McComb noted smoking is never permitted at any time in city parks.
“The park is not closed, but we have between 70 and 80 signs to go up to remind people not to smoke,” said McComb. “We’ve also increased our patrols.”
Another precaution Metro Vancouver has put into place is a two-hour fire watch. That means that after any work is done in a park using equipment, staff will check back on the area two hours later to ensure nothing has started to burn.
As for Slack’s concern about dried grass, McComb is sympathetic.
“Grass can be a concern because of the size of the park, but we have limited staff,” said McComb.
He added the message he really wants to get out to the public is that smoking and campfires are absolutely prohibited in parks at this time.
sthomas@vancourier.com
@sthomas10
