Fire crews from Delisle, Pike Lake, Montrose and Asquith had their hands full battling a large wildfire west of Delisle on Tuesday, September 1.
Fanned by strong northwesterly winds, the blaze began accidentally just before 2:00 pm when chaff building up in a combine ignited and spread to a standing crop.
“With the winds gusting up to 60 kilometers an hour, the fire quickly ran southeast before the folks who were combining could get a handle on it,” said Delisle Fire Chief Mike Given in a phone interview at the Pike Lake fire hall on Wednesday morning, September 2.
“They had a water truck, but it was in the next field where they were swathing.”
Given said the combine had made only a single pass through the standing crop when the fire started.
“It spread quickly to the field and then jumped the grid and headed southeast toward Highway 7,” said Given. “Altogether I’d say the fire covered about four miles.
“There was a lot of smoke blowing across the highway which reduced the visibility a bit but fortuantely it didn’t really impair traffic.”
The smoke could be seen as far away as Pike Lake and Langham.
Delisle and District Fire Department members arrived on the scene shortly after the call came in. They called in members from the department’s satellite halls in Pike Lake and the RM of Montrose. The Asquith Fire Department was also summoned to provide mutual aid.
Given said area farmers arrived in short order with tractors, cultivators, water trucks and discers to assist in making fire guards. He added that Mobile Grain contributed a D6 cat, which helped considerably in cutting fire breaks.
The fire was eventually brought under control by about 7:00 pm and mopping up operations began about 8:00 pm. However, fire crews were still on the scene as late as 4:00 a.m on Wednesday morning, September 2 putting out smouldering hot spots.
Given said there were several farms in the area, and firefighters focused on protecting them from danger.
“If the wind had changed in one direction or another a couple of homes for sure would have been threatened,” said Given.
No buildings were damaged in the fire, but one combine was destroyed and there was considerable crop loss, said Given.
He said the strong winds posed a challenge for firefighters.
“Like any big fire, you try and choke it off by working from the sides, and pushing it together in a pincer action,” said Given. “You also fight it from the black, burned-off area at the same time, so that the fire can’t come back and get you.
“Once the fire jumped the Asquith Grid, we were able to contain it down into a coulee.
“At that point it was protected from the wind a bit, and a lot of the bush is still green because a creek runs through there.
“That was the final stand of the fire. We surrounded it and waited for it to come to us, which it did in a couple spots, but mostly we contained it in the coulee.”
Given said in addition to the Delisle Fire Department’s fleet of vehicles, which includes a specially-equipped side-by-side all terrain vehicle, firefighters were able to use the Asquith Fire Department’s newly-acquired “bush bunny” vehicle.
“It’s a retired airport firefighting vehicle with a turret on top, as well as nozzles in front and underneath along the sides,” said Given. “So as you drive down a path, you can wet everything all around it. It’s very effective.
“It allowed us to get into the coulee in a couple spots and knock the fire down so it didn’t jump into the crop just above the coulee and take off on us again.”
Given said the wide geographic area covered by the fire made coordinating the firefighting crews a bit of a challenge.
“We initially had two staging areas, where people working radios and phones and coordinating the water trucks, tractors and other equipment,” he said. “Once the fire was contained we moved to a single staging area.”
At the height of the fire, people were advised to avoid the area in order to allow emergency vehicles to travel unobstructed.
The Town of Delisle issued a notice at about 4:00 pm recommending people avoid the area west of the community.
“Due to the prairie fire west of Delisle, we recommend that people stay in their home in case any smoke should drift into town,” stated the notice. “At this point, the Town of Delisle is not in imminent danger. We will continue to monitor the situation and will advise if anything should change.”