Shipwrecks belong in our history books not sunken in our harbours
LIVING, Page 14
Duncan RiverCats romp to Island mosquito AAA championship title
SPORTS, Page 21
WEDNESDAY
SUNFEST STARS SET TO TAKE THE STAGE/15
Serving the Cowichan Valley
www.cowichanvalleycitizen.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Huge crowd on the way for Sunfest LEXI BAINAS CITIZEN
Firefighters mop up after a fire on the banks of the Cowichan River near the intersection of Tzouhalem and Khenipsen roads on Monday afternoon. While the Valley got some welcome rainfall on the weekend, it wasn’t enough to decrease the fire risk in the area. [KEVIN ROTHBAUER/CITIZEN]
Firefighters stop blaze short of homes SARAH SIMPSON CITIZEN
It was a close call for Melanie Joe when she inadvertently started a brushfire near the corner of Khenipsen and Tzouhalem roads Monday afternoon. “It was an accident,” she said. South End firefighters were called out just before 1 p.m.
“It had pretty much almost burnt itself out by the time we got there,” South End deputy chief Brad Coleman said. “The perimeter lines were still burning. It kind of burned toward the rock as opposed to up the bank where the houses were, which was kind of lucky,” he added.
Coleman estimated the fire to be about 50-by-100-feet in area. “It was basically right along the marshy river section, and mostly blackberries and underbrush,” he said. Joe mentioned she had been out picking blackberries at the time. She was relieved the fire burned out as fast as it did, and
The brightest lights.
that firefighters got there so quickly, as the flames got within about 10 feet of her house and weren’t far from another home. A unit from the Duncan firehall was called out with a pumper truck as South End had a truck in for service. Drought conditions have left the fire danger at extreme.
When Keith Urban’s name was announced at Sunfest 2014, a huge cheer went up from the crowd. Now it’s time to see him, at 9:50 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, as Sunfest 2015 rolls into Duncan with its best lineup of talent yet. The festival, which draws thousands of people to the Cowichan Valley for the long weekend, opens Thursday night and runs until Sunday evening, with everyone from Lee Brice and Joe Nichols, to Thomas Rhett. But the headliner sure to draw the biggest crowd is country superstar Urban. A string of g reat country albums was followed by Urban finally debuting at the top of the all-genre charts. The song We Were Us, featuring Miranda Lambert, gave Urban a streak of five consecutive No. 1 songs dating back to 2011’s Without You. See MEGASTAR, Page 8
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