On May 11, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. the Madawaska Valley Fire Department was dispatched to Mintha Street in the village of Barry’s Bay for a brush fire. Within four minutes of the call, three trucks and nine fire fighters were on the scene.
As fire fighters were responding, plumes of white and grey smoke were visible from Opeongo Line. When the Fire Department arrived, flames were already two feet high and spreading in all directions due to high winds. Half an acre of brush and grass was burnt. MV Fire Department extinguished the fire in 20 minutes. The suspected cause of the fire is a pail of ashes that had been dumped in the bush.
MF Fire Chief Corwin Quade expressed thanks to a neighbour who saw smoke after arriving home and investigated the reason for the smoke. The witness stated that the fire had tripled in size during the four minutes between making the 911 call and the fire department’s arrival. Quade said, “If it had not been noticed so quickly, things could have been much worse. There are two large outbuildings and a home on the property in which the fire originated. This fire was within village limited and buildings are close [by] in all directions. Things are dry and not yet greened up. This is one of the reasons things are so strict in regards to open air fires.”
Quade,C. Madawaska Valley Fire Department(2020,May12) Brush Fire Mintha StreetI [media release]
Photo Madawaska Valley Fire Department