What caused all the smoke west of Bellingham shortly before sunset Tuesday?
Firefighters from Bellingham, Ferndale and North Whatcom Fire and Rescue battled a series of grass fires that ignited Tuesday evening west of Bellingham along Ferndale Road.
First reports of the brush fires came in shortly before 7:24 p.m. April 7, and Bellingham Fire Department Capt. Dave Pethick said they are believed to have ignited near the intersection of Ferndale Road and Marine Drive, just west of the Nooksack River.
An aid unit in the area on another call at the time confirmed a plume of smoke and helped pinpoint the location.
“When crews arrived on scene, they found several large grass fires within a single parcel of land,” Pethick told The Bellingham Herald. “There were about three or four fires, each about three-quarters of an acre to an acre in size.”
A light, dry breeze out of the northeast made fighting the fires a little more difficult, Pethick said, and may have been what caused multiple fires to ignite. The field where the fires were also had been recently cut, allowing the flames to spread easily, Pethick said.
Fortunately, the ground was relatively moist, as was discovered when one fire truck sunk in while testing the ground. That forced crews to attack the fires from the road with booster lines and hand tools, Pethick said.
Pethick said no structures were threatened by the fires, so damage was limited to vegetation.
Crews consulted with the Department of Natural Resources, which is continuing to monitor the site Wednesday to make sure there are no flare-ups, Pethick said, adding that the cause of the fires is not yet known.
