Firefighters hosed down a brush fire in Neck Point Park Thursday.
The fire started shortly after 7 p.m. and scorched about 30 square metres of brush. Ennis Monde, Nanaimo Fire Rescue loss prevention officer, described it as a slow moving grass fire and said witnesses saw youths running from the area after the fire started, but its cause has not yet been determined.
Nanaimo has had few brush fires through the summer, but a mini heat wave this week prompted Coastal Fire Centre staff to upgrade the fire danger rating for the Nanaimo area to extreme risk for wildfire outbreaks.