Members of the Rocky View County Fire Department remain on the scene following an afternoon grass fire near the intersection of Range Road 285 and Township Road 241, east of Calgary.
Firefighters were deployed to the scene shortly before 3:00 p.m. as the fire approached several homes in the new subdivision of Cambridge Park. Strong wind exacerbated the situation and contributed to the spread of the blaze.
“It was quite serious when we got here," said Rocky View County District Fire Chief Dax Huba. "We called crews from Rocky View County -the Balzac station, the Langdon station – and the City of Chestermere and the City of Calgary to assist us with this one.”
Huba says the fire damaged an area approximately six football fields long and three football fields wide. The exact cause of the fire has not been confirmed but a freshly harvested field fuelled the flames. “The fields still have tall grass in them and the crop field that it burned into was just cut, it wasn’t combined yet so there was quite a bit of heavy fuel in the fields which burned a hot fire.”
Fire crews will continue to monitor hotspots into the evening. “We know that the progression of the fire isn’t going to go anywhere and all the interface between the unburnt fuel and the fuel, all those spots are out. We want to make sure that the winds won’t kick up tonight and start another fire."
Rocky View County remains under a burn advisory and fire permits have been suspended due to the dry conditions and unpredictable fall winds.
With files from CTV's Ina Sidhu
