No one was injured after a car fire on the Island Highway north of Nanaimo spread to the centre median, igniting a grass fire that extended several hundred feet, according to fire crews.
The fire happened around 2 p.m. Saturday along the highway about two kilometres south of Horne Lake Road, says Mark Taylor, chief of the Bow Horn Bay Fire Department.
When the car caught fire, the driver pulled over to the northbound shoulder of the highway, where embers began to spread to grass in the centre median. The fire spread about 300 feet, says Taylor.
The highway was shut down as firefighters from the Deep Bay and Bow Horn Bay fire departments mitigated the flames. RCMP were also on scene, and crews from the BC Wildfire Service were called to mop up, meaning they extinguished the grass fire after it was brought under control.
Taylor says that while no one was injured, the car was destroyed in the fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Ethan Morneau
