B.C. brush fire sparked by bird dropping fish on power lines, firefighters say

Firefighters in B.C.'s Interior believe they have identified the cause of a small brush fire and power outage —  an osprey and a fish. 

Ashcroft Fire Rescue said it was sent to a fire burning south of the town, which is about 67 kilometres west of Kamloops, B.C., just before noon Wednesday. The fire was extinguished in short order with the help of local ranchers and B.C. Hydro employees, according to Josh White, fire chief with Ashcroft Fire Rescue. 

They then looked into what caused the blaze.

"We get out there and right at the base of the pole, we find this charred fish," White said. "And we're just wondering, how did this get here?"

It was determined the fish had been dropped by an osprey, "and when it had fallen from the sky, it had hit a couple of the lines, and that's what created the embers landing in the grasses and taking off from there."

Firefighters say the fire occurred about three kilometres west of the closest river.

"We do suspect by the size of the fish and the heat of the day probably caused the rather tired bird to drop its catch," the fire department wrote in a social media post.

The post said without explanation that firefighters verified that the "prime suspect sustained no injuries in the incident."

The fire department said the incident briefly knocked out power to the town.

It also said firefighters and ranchers used about 4,800 gallons of water to put out the blaze.