Volunteer fire departments battled a blaze that broke out in heavy equipment south of Nanaimo.
Three volunteer fire departments responded at about 1:30 p.m. to the fire at a property at 10 Nanaimo River Rd., near Cassidy, where workers had lit a wood debris pile on fire, which spread.
Ron Gueulette, Cranberry Volunteer Fire Department chief, was first on scene and called in Cedar Volunteer Fire Department for added manpower and equipment. Extension Volunteer Fire Department also responded.
“They lit it on fire, which they were OK to do, but it got away on them, the wind got it … and it got going way better than they thought it would,” Gueulette said. “There was an excavator right beside it and it caught the excavator on fire.”
Firefighters arrived on scene and got the blaze under control before it could spread to a dump truck and a second, larger excavator that were in the path of the flames. Gueulette said he called in extra firefighting assets out of concern the fire might also spread into a heavily forested area.
“We got there in time to stop it at the first excavator,” Gueulette said.
Gueulette said he believed the burned equipment is insured.
No injuries were reported.