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Tree fire in Stanley Park still smouldering 24 hours later

Tree fire in Stanley Park still smouldering 24 hours later

A large tree on fire in Stanley Park continues to smolder almost a full day after the fire first broke out.

Battalation Chief John Mantei said the fire started on Thursday morning just off a trail near Beaver Lake, but that fire crews weren't called about it until between 9 and 10 p.m. PST.

"The strategy was to let that tree burn, it basically started to burn itself out. There were some concerns about the tree collapsing so we had to keep park rangers and fire crews monitoring," he said.

Trails closed

"There's a serious concern that that tree is going to come down. The plan is for if it comes down, we have crews on scene to put out any spot fires in the park."

Mantei said hose lines have been deployed around the park to prepare for that.

He said he couldn't confirm what kind of tree it was, but that it was large enough that crews couldn't reach the very top.

"[The fire] is inside the tree and part of the problem is access. We're not even able to get to the top of the tree, and that's the part that ends up burning, but eventually it ran out of fuel and the heavy rains helped," he said.

Mantei said the fire is of no risk to the public as all trails in the area have been cordoned off by fire line tape.

In 2014, fire crews spent hours fighting a large tree fire near a homeless camp by the Teahouse in the park.

With files from Cory Correia