Grass fires flare up along Highway 417 west end
Two separate fires burned dry grass near the highway Thursday. Crews suspect a mechanical vehicle failure sparked the blazes.
Firefighters responded to two grass fires on the eastbound lanes of Highway 417 Thursday afternoon — one near Castlefrank Road and another between Eagleson Road and Moodie Drive.
Ontario Provincial Police and Ottawa Fire Service arrived to find flames in the median and on the highway shoulder. Fire Chief Paul Hutt told CityNews the working theory is a mechanical failure on a vehicle that threw sparks into dry grass alongside the road.
"That could have been lighting off sparks or disbursing sparks that caught the tinder dryness of the grass along the side of the highway," Hutt said. The separate locations ruled out a single source like a discarded cigarette, which would typically create multiple ignition points close together.
The fires are unusual for Highway 417 — similar incidents typically happen along railway tracks. The chief cautioned drivers to pull over and give emergency crews space when they're working on a 400-series highway with heavy traffic. Crews contained the flames quickly despite the hazardous setting.