A fire near Wilson Slough has renewed a resident’s concern about the care of the salmon-bearing waterway.
Squamish resident Marina Tourlakis wrote in an email to The Squamish Chief that a recent fire in a dumpster renewed her concern about the environmental impact on Wilson Slough. She has seen the slough littered with trash throughout the years. The recent fire has added to her concern for the waterway.
“All this time, our concern has been the pollution of the salmon-bearing waterway. Now we have a new concern [of] fire,” she wrote.
A spokesperson for the District of Squamish wrote in an email to The Squamish Chief that Squamish Fire Rescue was dispatched early on March 4 to the 38000 block of Buckley Avenue and extinguished the fire in under 10 minutes.
“The crew of two on-shift firefighters responded along with the Deputy Fire Chief. A second truck was staged at Firehall 1, but did not attend,” wrote Rachel Boguski. “The crew arrived at 4:35 a.m., and the fire was extinguished at 4:44 a.m. The crew was able to extinguish the fire quickly, as it was contained within a rubbish dumpster, and the property was turned back over to the property representative.”
Boguski said the cause of the fire is currently undetermined.
Moreover, Boguski wrote fire rescue is “working with the property representative to ensure that combustible items do not accumulate and are removed more frequently to prevent a similar occurrence.”
Regarding litter in the slough, Tourlakis wrote in her email that intentional dumping is hard to stop, but accidental dumping from overflow could be prevented by installing a fence.
The District told The Squamish Chief that it had not been informed of any recent dumping within Wilson Slough.
Squamish Fire Rescue also did not note any impact on Wilson Slough because of the rubbish fire or fire suppression efforts while crews were on the scene.
The District said residents who may have concerns regarding this issue are encouraged to contact Bylaw, Public Works and/or the Environment Department to report illegal dumping.
A spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) wrote to The Squamish Chief on March 11 that it had no records of previous violations for Wilson Slough nor a complaint about the recent fire. The department noted sloughs are a "critical" habitat for juvenile fish, where they may feed, acclimatize to saltwater and hide from predators.
"As part of the ongoing educational work that fishery officers routinely do to promote stewardship and best practices around fish and fish habitat, Squamish fishery officers will reach out to the District of Squamish to explore ways to promote the importance of fish habitat in this and other local wetlands."
The DFO asked that the public report suspected fisheries-related violations or any contravention of the Fisheries Act to call 1-800-465-4336 or email [email protected].
Please note that this story was updated on Tuesday, March 12, to reflect information from the DFO.
