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Eleven giant tires washed up on a beach are creating a mystery for local residents.
The tires, nearly three metres tall and stuffed with styrofoam, washed up in Shelter Bay in Campbell River, B.C. on Vancouver Island recently.
Residents first reported their arrival early last week, saying the tires blew into the area during a storm.
A beach cleanup was organized to collect the styrofoam that breaks into little beads, but the tires weigh about 8,000 pounds each and are harder to remove.
“I mean, they are probably about 11, 12 feet in diameter,” Keely Dodds with the Greenways Land Trust said.
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More than a week later, where they came from and what they were used for remains a mystery, but it’s not the first time tires have washed up here.
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This next set came days after three other tires had already washed up and had been cleared away.
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However, that cleanup took months to organize and required heavy equipment, resulting in a hefty price tag.
“About $6,000 to remove the three,” Phil Griffith with the Campbell River Salmon Foundation said.
“These next 11 that are a mile and a half away, access will be tough. They’ll have to be cut apart on the beach, and drug or moved by heavy equipment and whether we can get beach access this time of year — who knows?”
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans attended the site but was not able to identify the owner of the tires.
In the meantime, Emergency Management BC has issued a dangerous goods incident report.
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