On Wednesday evening you may had noticed a large plume of smoke just south of Nacmine on top of the Drumheller Valley.
Unfortunately an area of crop caught fire at around 5 PM. According to Drumheller Fire Chief Derian Rosario, this fire may have been started by a simple spark. “It appears (Wednesday) that a combine may have done a rock strike as a possible way the crop got ignited. The combine itself is still in great shape and they will be able to put it back to work. The barley crop was lit on fire and about 20 acres of crop and stubble (was ignited). Then it went around into a dry pasture area and edged over into the coulee just off the top of Monarch Hill.”
Fire crews from our area responded but Rosario shares that an extra piece of equipment was available to attack the fire from the air. “Through Kneehill (County), I requested and they approved a medium helicopter for me. That helicopter was attached to what is called a ‘bambi bucket’ and was able to dip out of the river and would come back and drop that water on the fire. Because the fire went over a very steep edge of the coulee, it wasn’t safe to put people down there to do the operation, so we got the helicopter to do the heavy work for us.”
The fire started at around 5 PM and by the time crews were back in the fire hall, it ended up being about 11 PM.
For those that are working in the fields right now, Rosario has some pointers to stay safe out in the field. “Just good maintenance on those combines. Going around, cleaning them out, making sure that the dust and any straw that is captured in the equipment is cleaned out. The farming community is very consciences about fire this time of year because they are in the straw and becomes that fine fuel for a fire. The only other suggestion, if possible, is to have a cultivator or discer available so if there is a fire, they can jump on their machines and secure it before we get there and put the fire out.” A number of area neighbours came to help fight the fire.
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