Brush fire temporarily closes Rte. 303 in Thorne Friday afternoon

Brush fire temporarily closes Rte. 303 in Thorne Friday afternoon

Rte. 303 between Ladysmith and Schwartz was closed temporarily on Friday afternoon as crews from the Pontiac North Fire department worked to put out a nearby brush fire. The call came in at 2:21 p.m. and according to firefighter Caroline Gagné, they were on scene by 2:41 p.m. and had the blaze under control by around 3 o’clock.

She said that the cause of the blaze was a power line touching a tree, which resulted in about half an acre to an acre of brush being burnt.

In all, the road was closed for about an hour and a half to two hours. The scene was then handed over to workers from SOPFEU at around 5 o’clock. Gagné said that in a heavily forested area like theirs, these types of incidents are common when the weather gets dry.