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Small grass fire highlights existing fire danger

Fire crews responded to calls of a grass fire Wednesday at Miral Heights and made quick work of putting out the flames.
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The regional fire department responded quickly to a small grass fire along the highway near the entrance to Mural Heights along the highway on Wednesday.

The Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue responded to calls of a grass fire on Wednesday afternoon at the entrance to Miral Heights in Trail.

At around 3:30 p.m., crews arrived at the scene and according to Deputy Fire Chief Dan Derby, made quick work of putting out the flames.

“We just respond to (grass fires) like we would any fire,” he said, adding that the highly visible location of the fire meant lots of calls. “We responded with a crew from Trail and were able to extinguish the fire in short order. We received a lot of 911 calls about the fire because it was right beside the highway.”

The grass fire, measuring about 50 feet by 100 feet, didn't pose any danger to homes or people, and Derby says it was probably cause by a cigarette butt.

“I am pretty sure that this was the result of somebody discarding a cigarette butt,” he said, adding that even though it has rained over the last week or so, there are still dry fuels on the ground.

“That is obviously a concern for us. Everybody thinks that because we have had some moisture around here that the fire danger is gone, but that is definitely not the case.”