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A tiny spark from a maintenance worker's welding torch caused a small forest fire near Deersdale July 15, said officials at the provincial Forest Fire Watch Centre.

But thanks to the quick response of J.D. Irving fire crews, the small blaze was doused before it could cause any serious damage, said provincial duty officer Tim Greer.

Greer said a maintenance crew from Canadian National Railway was working on the rail line near the Deersdale mill, doing some welding and grinding at the time of the incident.

A spark from the work ignited the fire, he said.

JDI regional manager Kevin Larlee confirmed the fire started on the mill's Crown land allocation, about half a kilometre southwest of Miramichi Lake.

Cottage owners in the area saw black smoke rising into the air and called it in, he said, prompting JDI fire crews to assemble quickly to battle the blaze.

"We got the call, and we scrambled to go to the site to find out more details about it," explained Larlee. "Since it was on our land, we went up in a helicopter and identified where it was. We called it in as a Crown fire, and we put it out."

Crews worked fast to gain the upper hand on the small blaze, Larlee added. Fire bombers were called to the scene to drop fire retardant on burning area, then helicopters doused the flames with water, enabling ground crews to contain it.

"Within an hour it was under control," Larlee said. "We had water on it before DNR (Department of Natural Resources) showed up. We were back (Wednesday) and we mopped it up."

The fire destroyed about .2 hectares of forest, said Greer, noting it was not a significant amount of damage. He pointed out there wasn't much of a fire hazard in the area on Tuesday afternoon. Luckily, the ground was still damp, he said, preventing the fire from spreading despite the wind.

Larlee added the damage would not affect the Deersdale mill's production.

DNR crews remained on scene for the rest of Tuesday afternoon, monitoring the site for possible flare-ups, Greer said, and returned on Wednesday morning.

"We had four men and a tanker on scene Wednesday cleaning up and watching for flare-ups," he added.