Could a bird and its meal have started an Ashcroft brush fire?

British Columbia is in the thick of fire season, and you’ll often hear from officials that many wildfires are caused by humans.

But crews in the Interior say they dealt with a brush fire in Ashcroft on Wednesday that may have been caused by a bird and its would-be lunch.

“Shortly before noon hour, Ashcroft Fire was dispatched to a landscape fire burning 6km south of town. The fire was located just off the east side of Highway 1,” Ashcroft Fire Rescue said on social media.

After crews doused it with about 4,800 gallons of water, they got to work to find out what caused it.

“A quick investigation revealed the cause of this fire. It was determined to be a fish, yes, you read that right, the fish had an incredible journey, considering the river is 3km east of the point of origin,” fire crews said.

Crews think an osprey had been carrying the fish, which then dropped it on a power line, causing it to spark onto the dry grass.

“We do suspect by the size of the fish and the heat of the day probably caused the rather tired bird to drop its catch,” crews said.

“Or another suspicion could be that it’s tired of raw fish and wanted to give cooked a try. We may never know the answer, but it has been verified that our prime suspect sustained no injuries in the incident and is still flying at large.”