Strathcona Park grassfire on April 6, 2025. (Image Credit: Vanessa Elliot/Facebook)

By Victor Kaisar

Strathcona Park Fire

Kamloops Fire Rescue makes quick work of Sunday fire at Strathcona Park

Apr 6, 2025 | 6:09 PM

KAMLOOPS — Details are slim, but Kamloops Fire Rescue made quick work of a highly visible grassfire at Strathcona Park, located in the City’s West End, Sunday (April 6) afternoon.

Kamloops Fire Rescue (KFR) crews responded to the area just after 5:00 p.m., and had the fire under control not long after. At this time however, its not clear what sparked this particular blaze, but CFJC Today has reached out to KFR for more information.

KFR on scene at Stratchona Park on Sunday, April 6. (Image Credit: Cassidy Girling/Contributed)

There have been numerous grassfires in Strathcona Park, located above the southern end of the Overlanders Bridge, in recent years. The most significant one was an April 2023 blaze that was fanned by gusty winds that had many area residents on edge.

At that time, Kamloops RCMP said that the cause of the 2023 blaze was a campfire, and that they were conducting a criminal investigation. An update into that investigation has not been released, and its unclear if it is still ongoing.

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In June last year, Kamloops Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc was quoted as saying that Strathcona Park was not considered to be a priority area of concern for fires.

“The area is mainly grassland and sage, with some of the berries in there. There’s not a lot of pine trees,” Uzeloc is quoted as saying in a Radio NL article. “It then falls to a lower risk criteria from what some of the other higher risk areas across the city are.”

“Yes, there is the potential for grassfire here. But we pretty much have the potential for grassfire across Kamloops,” Uzeloc added. “They do have the path that is paved, that gives the fire department good access in that area.”

A number of West End residents though have routinely taken to social media to say they have asked the City to deal with goji berry bushes in the park. At least one resident took to social media to say they have filed a similar request following Sunday’s blaze.

Since last year, the City of Kamloops has hired a FireSmart coordinator, and announced plans for three prescribed burns that were scheduled for this spring. However, two of those burns had to be postponed until at least this winter because of unfavourable weather.

None of the burns planned for this spring were scheduled for the Strathcona Park area, and it remains unclear at this time whether the City has revised its plans to address the concerns raised by residents in the area.

CFJC Today will update this story if more information is known.