Another local resident Bill Dyck saw the drama unfold from his house.
"I was upstairs in my house and saw all this smoke," he said.
"There were a bunch of people on top of the dunes throwing sand on the fire and smothering it with towels. It was just amazing.
"I hate to think what would've happened if there weren't all those people at the beach, it might've spread to the houses. It was pretty close to taking off so I'm thankful they all acted so quickly."