UPDATE: 15:25 Kelowna resident Eric Ponton says he was driving on Sexsmith Street in Kelowna just before 2 p.m. when he saw a cloud of smoke in the distance. “And I went that this is going to spread fast. He was already trying to go to the building and get down. I went and grabbed my bucket and went and threw water on him and tried to do what we could with what we had,” he said. Just minutes later, the Kelowna Fire Department arrived on scene to extinguish the 50-foot-by-50-foot grass fire. “When it’s this dry and this dry, you have to get it all wet to be able to stop it from spreading, but it’s all we could do. I mean, it could have been a can on the dry grass. That’s all it takes the right combustion support and gone,” Ponton. The fire is considered suspicious. The Kelowna Fire Department initially responded with four engines, a rescue unit and a command unit comprising 19 firefighters. UPDATE: 2:20 p.m Firefighters have now extinguished a small grass fire that started behind a commercial building on Highway 97 in Kelowna Sunday afternoon. Fire crews at the scene have asked RCMP to attend 3554 Highway 97 N, just south of Sexsmith Street, as the fire appears “suspicious.” ORIGINAL: 2:05 p.m Kelowna Fire crews are responding to a small grass fire off Highway 97, just south of Sexsmith Road, Sunday afternoon. Firefighters were called to 3554 Highway 97 N just before 2 a.m. for reports of smoke behind a commercial building. Upon arrival, fire crews located a grass fire approximately six by six feet behind the building and are now extinguishing the small fire. Castanet will update this story as more information becomes available.
