Richmond Fire-Rescue was called to Iona Beach on Friday night for a large fire that took almost 24 hours to extinguish.
Trevor Northrup, assistant deputy chief with Richmond Fire-Rescue, said the crew were called at 6:30 p.m. to the Iona North Arm jetty where a fire had overwhelmed a 1,500-square-foot, five-foot-deep pile of old dry logs.
Putting out the fire took all of Friday night and most of Saturday.
"We don't have any water out there so crews were shuttling water from two kilometres away," said Northrup, adding the fire was moderately contained during the night.
Richmond Fire-Rescue had to access the area with their wildland fire trucks -- containing decks that have specific equipment with firefighting capabilities -- to put out spot fires.
"That was a valuable resource to have (and) allowed crews to gain access down the jetty and to put out the spot fires. Without it, we would have been extremely challenged."
The priority for firefighters on Friday night was to keep the fire from spreading and to protect the Iona Wastewater Treatment Facility and park as there was "a significant fuel load on that jetty."
"It was quite a hazardous environment for our staff during the evening. They stayed on scene throughout the evening to make sure the fire did not go anywhere else," said Northrup.
An excavator was dispatched on Saturday morning to the area to break up the pile of logs and everything was extinguished around 3:30 p.m.
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