Flying fish aren’t found in the B.C. Interior, but that’s the suspected cause of a fire that sparked a brief power outage in Ashcroft on the morning of Wednesday, July 30.
Just before noon on July 30, Ashcroft Fire Rescue (AFR) was dispatched to a landscape fire on the east side of Highway 1 about six kilometres south of town. When firefighters arrived on scene they found the fire being actioned by BC Hydro employees, as well as ranch hands from the nearby Ashcroft Ranch, who had brought the ranch’s water tender.
The heaviest part of the fire had been knocked down, so AFR crew used their two pieces of equipment — an engine and a water tender — to cool the perimeter of the fire, which measured 60 by 90 metres. About 4,800 gallons of water were put into the area, with AFR Chief Josh White noting that they were all very thankful wind was not a factor.
The fire doused, White turned his attention to the possible cause of the fire, in order to write a report for the Office of the Fire Commissioner. What he found was unlike anything he had ever encountered in his 25 years of firefighting.
“Do you wonder why the power was out in Ashcroft today?” he posted to the AFR Facebook page. “There is something fishy about this call and we definitely suspect fowl play!
“A quick investigation revealed the cause of this fire. It was determined to be a fish. Yes, you read that right. The fish had an incredible journey, considering the [Thompson] river is 3km east from the point of origin. The fish had been dropped by a local osprey onto the hydro line, causing embers to drop, along with the fish, to the dry grasses below.
“We do suspect the size of the fish and the heat of the day probably caused the rather tired bird to drop its catch. Or another suspicion could be that it’s tired of raw fish and wanted to give cooked a try. We may never know the answer, but it has been verified that our prime suspect sustained no injuries in the incident and is still flying at large. It should be noted that osprey are not fowl, they are birds of prey. But it made for good clickbait, didn’t it!”
White told Black Press that BC Hydro crew pointed out an osprey nest about one kilometre from the site of the fire. He said that the fish — the remains of which were clearly visible — was a good-sized one, and probably hit two of the three power lines, which would have caused embers to come down along with the fish (hitting just one line would not have caused any embers).
“If the bird and the fish both land on two lines, neither survive,” he added. Since no feathers were found at the site, he suspects the osprey was unharmed, although its feathers were probably ruffled after losing its meal.
The usual causes of fires along the highway are overheating vehicles, tossed cigarette butts, or a motor vehicle incident, so this instance of wildlife-caused fire was a rare experience for White. The only other similar incident he can recall was several years ago, when a snake crawled into a Hydro sub-station in North Ashcroft and caused a power outage.
“This one was new to me: a fish in the middle of a field three kilometres from the river. It didn’t take much to put the pieces together.
“I had to laugh, though. I just saw a video that Kamloops Fire rescue posted of five beautiful bucks in close proximity to them. They get that, and I have a pyromaniac bird of prey in Ashcroft.”
Osprey are piscivorous, with fish making up 99 per cent of their diet, and are more commonly seen nesting beside rivers and lakes. However, retired Thompson Rivers University professor Dr. Nancy Flood — who is president of the Kamloops Naturalist Club — said that there’s nothing unusual about osprey nesting three kilometres from a food source.
“While ospreys typically nest near fish-filled bodies of water — along the shore or within a kilometre of the shore — it is not really all that rare for them to nest farther away,” she told Black Press in an email.
She explained that there are numerous factors involved, including suitable places to build nests, the presence of other osprey nests (“They don’t like to be too close”), presence of human disturbance, etc.
“A study in Idaho showed that about 20 per cent of nests were more than 1.5 kilometres from water, and these nests were just as successful as those (about 60 per cent) built less than 500 metres from water. A study in Germany found that nests were more likely to be built in areas with lakes, but they categorized ‘nearby’ lakes as those 2.7 to 4 kilometres away, so not really all that close!”
In other words, said Flood, the circumstances surrounding the avian accident aren’t in the least bit fishy. “While most osprey nests are closer than three kilometres from water, it isn’t too unusual to find them farther away. Three kilometres is not too far for an osprey to fly!”
She added that the distance from the river to the nest might have encouraged the osprey to bite off a bit more than it could chew. Wikipedia notes that osprey typically take fish that weigh between five and 10 ounces and measure 10 to 14 inches, but will take any fish that weigh between two ounces and 4.4 pounds.
“An osprey that far away might try to take bigger fish each time they go to the river (rather than going back and forth for small fish) and the bigger the fish, the more likely it is to be dropped!" said Flood. "They do sometimes pick up ones that are too heavy for them to carry, so they have to then drop them.”
That leaves a burning question: does the cause of the fried fish fire go down as natural, or human? Chief White says there is some debate as to how to report the official cause, with “unclassified” looking like a possibility.
One thing is for certain: there’s an osprey out there with a great story to tell about the one that got away (and which will probably be sticking to sushi in the future).
