Smoke bellowed out over Ucluelet’s Big Beach in the early morning hours of June 10 as flames engulfed a historic shipwreck site.
A guest staying at nearby Black Rock Oceanfront Resort noticed the smoke and reported it, suggesting a bonfire was smouldering at the beach.
Ucluelet Fire Rescue’s Deputy Chief Markus McRurie responded to the call thinking he would find a leftover bonfire smouldering, but instead found significant flames.
“When I came to the beach, I noticed right away it was more than a bonfire. That monumental shipwreck portion that sticks out of the ground was burning,” McRurie told the Westerly News.
He said he paged his crew and about six firefighters showed up, tackling the blaze for about an hour after laying roughly 700 feet of firehose from a hydrant on Marine Drive down to the area.
“Normally a beach brush fire, we’re trekking in our water packs—essentially backpacks full of water—but this one was big enough that i knew right away that we needed a line down here,” he said. “Not ideal, but we needed that much water down there…It was a lot of trekking hose and a lot of work. I’m really proud of my team.”
A plaque commemorating the Big Beach Mystery Shipwreck site explains that the vessel likely crashed in the area over 100 years ago, with reports of its remnants dating back to 1896.
“Judging from her timbers of Douglas Fir, wooden pegs and iron ‘drift pin’ fastenings, this ship was probably constructed somewhere on the Northwest Coast of America in the mid-to-late 1800’s and would have measured approximately 46 metres in length,” it reads. “Judging from her position it is clear that this ship was likely driven ashore in a southeast gale and stranded; an all too common fate in these waters.”
It adds that the West Coast’s waters carried the ominous title of ‘Graveyard of the Pacific’ due to a “litany of maritime disasters.”
“The majority of these losses were recorded by survivors, would-be rescuers, or helpless witnesses, but some simply sailed off the pages of history and into the realm of mystery. Such is the case of the big Beach mystery shipwreck you see before you.”
McRurie said the cause of the fire is “suspicious” and it’s currently under investigation.
“It’s really, really bizarre,” he said.
He expressed gratitude for the Black Rock guest who reported the incident and added that, with a warm spring heading into summer, beachgoers must practice caution with fires.
“It’s just a really good reminder to please put out your fires. We’re getting close now to the point where you should think about whether you should be having a fire,” he said. “There’s no official word out on a full-on fire ban, but I’m sure it’s coming down the pipeline pretty quick. Just be responsible with your fires.”
