Late Thursday evening, fire crews responded to a fire in the forested cliffside overlooking Wreck Beach at the University of British Columbia’s West Point Grey campus.
The fire broke out at approximately 8 p.m. and remained small, but with warm and dry conditions the situation could have been worse. Photos and videos show billowing smoke and flames shooting out from the trees.
It took firefighters about two hours to contain and extinguish the blaze, which reached a size of about 0.136 acres. A fire boat supported the efforts by ground crews and nearby roads were shutdown.
The fire nearly spread to a 400-year-old Douglas Fir tree located just metres away.
The exact cause of the fire is being investigated.
Fire broke out in the mountain behind the Wreck Beach, British Columbia. #fire #breaknews #wrekbeachfire #ubc #news pic.twitter.com/1YThKc0gcu
— Xuhan Zhou Joyce (@ZXuhan) July 24, 2015
Fire in Wrek Beach 2015.7.23. 20:30 #wrekbeachfire #wrekbeach #news #photo #news pic.twitter.com/vit7BK0hEJ
— Xuhan Zhou Joyce (@ZXuhan) July 24, 2015
The huge 400 year old douglasfir at #wreckbeach was nearly grazed by #wildfire. #UBC #bigtree http://t.co/fcjrC0kPH2 pic.twitter.com/ohiNS12Nv9
— Vancouvers Big Trees (@VanBigTrees) July 24, 2015
@CKNW forest fire at wreck beach pic.twitter.com/sQftpq8M6Q
— Brian Newbold (@bnewb) July 24, 2015
@globalbc fire at UBC above wreck beach. pic.twitter.com/LM5Ff4gr6V
— The Benz (@robbybenz) July 24, 2015
What sparked fire near #WreckBeach? Crews are still trying to figure that out. (Courtesy @Ubyssey) @BT_Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/DwmmuSbsWX
— CityNews Vancouver (@CitytvNews) July 24, 2015