Rte. 303 between Ladysmith and Schwartz was closed temporarily on Friday afternoon as crews from the Pontiac North Fire department worked to put out a nearby brush fire. The call came in at 2:21 p.m. and according to firefighter Caroline Gagné, they were on scene by 2:41 p.m. and had the blaze under control by around 3 p.m.

She said that the cause of the blaze was a power line touching a tree, which resulted in about half an acre to an acre of brush being burnt.

In all, the road was closed for about an hour and a half to two hours. The scene was then handed over to workers from SOPFEU at around 5 p.m. Gagné said that in a heavily forested area like theirs, these types of incidents are common when the weather gets dry.