Calls for help were burning up the phone lines at the regional fire centre last week, including a blaze on Monday in Rossland.
Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue sirens echoed throughout the region on Monday, beginning with a morning call out to a structure fire in the Beaver Valley area.
In that incident, a homeowner was burning grass when a gust of wind spread the flames to his nearby garden shed, explained regional fire chief Terry Martin.
When crews arrived on the scene, the small storage unit was completely engulfed in flames.
“He couldn’t put the fire out with a garden hose,” said Martin. “The shed was consumed by fire but did not spread to the house.”
As crews were packing up in that area, fire rescue was called to a report of a deck fire at a residence in Rossland.
The Rossland fire crew was dispatched to the scene after a passerby called in a fire, continued Martin.
“Nobody was home at the time,” he said. “Fortunately, it ended up being a small fire with minimal damage to the deck.”
A few hours later, just after 4 p.m., the regional fire centre received a call from a security company reporting a fire at a home on the 1200 block of Third Ave. in East Trail.
An elderly occupant had fallen asleep after leaving a pot on the stove, and the house had filled with smoke.
“We banged on the door and were able to get her out,” said Martin.
The small fire was contained to the pot and caused no damage to the home; however, the fire crew stayed on site to clear the house of smoke with an industrial fan.
“She had an alarm system, so when it detected smoke, dispatch was called,” he added. “So that worked out really well for her.”
Spring conditions had homeowners out with rakes, but dry conditions and wind caused two grass fires to get out of hand and prompted calls to the fire department.