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A wildfire late Saturday afternoon on Penticton Indian Band land a couple hundred yards south of the Doc's Golf Centre clubhouse on the northwest edge of the city attracted the attention of both the Penticton Fire Department and the Penticton Indian Band Fire Department.
When PentictonNow arrived on the scene just after 5 p.m., there were a half-dozen firefighting vehicles and at least a dozen firefighters circling the active zone, which was spread erratically across an area 60-plus meters in circumference at the base of West Bench Hill.
A thick column of smoke rose into the sky.
In the middle of the action was a small structure that by approximately 5:30 spectacularly erupted in flames.
By 6:15, the visible flames had been snuffed and it appeared that quick action had prevented the fire from moving up the dry scrub on the side of the hill and potentially into the West Bench residential area.
Attending PFD captain Brent Ryll said the incident, which he termed a "grass fire," was mostly under control and that the cause was under investigation. He called the partially burned structure a "shed."
Penticton Fire Department vehicles were still on the scene at 7:30.