If you happened to be on the north half of the Island this afternoon, May 13, at about 3:30 you may have seen Bainbridge Island Fire Department (BIFD) trucks zooming north. Having just picked up their kids from The Island School, several parents near the intersection of Highway 305 and Day Road had a close encounter with one fire vehicle taking a sharp turn from Miller onto Day heading east.
The BIFD were responding to a brush fire on the Point Monroe sandspit near Fay Bainbridge Park.
A woman walking her dogs in the area reported that a person was using a blow torch to burn weeds on a grassy area when flames flared out of control quickly. The fire torched wooden lawn furniture down to embers and spread across the grass, dried from unseasonably warm sunny weather in the last few days.
Charred furniture before it burned to embers
Several Bainbridge units responded, along with a North Kitsap Fire truck.
According to Fire Marshal Luke Carpenter the department emptied its big 750-gallon water tank to douse the flames. The water might sound excessive, but Carpenter explained that fires like this one can appear to be contained but continue to smolder in driftwood and flare up again later. “With another sunny day expected tomorrow, it was safer to empty the tank,” said Carpenter.
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Photo courtesy of BIFD.