Fire bans being considered as dry conditions fuel grass fires

Saskatoon’s fire chief is cautioning people about doing burning in their yards after a large brush fire Tuesday afternoon.

The fire department got a call around 2 p.m. reporting trees on fire near Riverside Estates, a rural neighbourhood adjacent to Stratchcona Avenue.

Morgan Hackl said crews were up against dry, windy conditions.

“They weren’t really high winds, but the winds switched on us a couple of times,” said Hackl.

“Our crews did a fabulous job keeping it away from those homes.  It was really challenging there for a time.”

Hackl said the quick melt and little rain has resulted in an early start to the season with two major fires in a four day span.

“You know spring and fall people are cleaning up yards wanting to burn debris. We really caution that,” Hackl said, adding they’re monitoring conditions with Corman Park and discussing the possibility of fire bans.

A total of 40 firefighters , along with brush trucks and water tankers were used to battle the fire which burned for over eight hours.

Hackl credits reinforcements from the province, specifically a single engine air tanker, for helping get it contained.

“Even though we have brush trucks for off road a lot of it just wasn’t accessible because of all of the brush as well. So it was very effective in helping us contain it.”

A cause of the fire has not been determined.

Looks like they're using an air tractor or some other crop duster type plane to attack the fire. pic.twitter.com/kqXVYOIWW7

— Taylor MacPherson (@TaylorMacP) April 17, 2019