
About 40 firefighters from six departments contended with strong westerly winds while battling a wildfire south of Langham on Sunday afternoon, March 28.
Fire crews from Langham, Asquith, Dalmeny, Martensville, Warman and the provincial wildfire service responded to the blaze.
The fire began in an area immediately east of Range Road 3073 (the Langham Grid) and south of Township Road 374 (Auction Mart Road). The area has many farms and acreages with clumps of brush and small trees.
The first call came in at 3:15 p.m., according to Langham Fire Chief Bill McCombs.
“It apparently started off as a controlled burn but it got out of control once the wind picked up,” said McCombs in an interview on Monday, March 29. “The wind was definitely an issue, because it kept the fire moving into areas that were hard to access.”
McCombs said even though there are patches of snow in the bush and the ground is still wet, the cover grass and stubble on the surface is tinder dry.
“Some of the areas were pretty muddy, and with all the bush, firefighters had some difficulty gaining access to the areas that were burning,” said McCombs. “
He said there was no damage to any buildings.
McCombs said firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from getting out of hand by hitting it hard at the beginning.
“We had talked about this after experiencing some really big fires over the past few years,” said McCombs. “The consensus is that it’s better to have a little ‘over-kill’ by pulling in more resources at the beginning, than in taking a chance of letting it spread.
“It may cost a little more at the start, but in the long run you save a lot and it’s not as hard on the people on the front lines.”
McCombs said Warman and Martensville provided wildland trucks and water tenders to help in the firefighting effort.
He noted that a second, smaller wildfire in the same vicinity was reported at about 4:00 p.m. He added the second fire was believed to be unrelated to the original blaze.
“Dalmeny was the crew that was closest to the second, smaller fire and they were able to knock it down in short order,” said McCombs.
He urged people to use caution when doing controlled burns.
“It’s really important to check the weather ahead of time,” said McCombs. “Just because it’s calm in the morning doesn’t mean it’s going to be calm all day. The wind can pick up quickly.
“Also, make sure you have a water supply handy and you are careful about where you do your burn. Don’t do it next to a lot of dry grass or bush.”