A second fire ablaze in the Clyde area has been extinguished, but not before burning over 50 hectares of land.
Sparks from a flare gun allegedly caused the blaze that began May 19 and burned 59 hectares.
It required resources from Fawcett, Clyde, Westlock, Pickardville, Busby, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resources (ESRD), and Westlock County public works staff to put out.
Recently re-hired county fire chief John Biro, who took command of the fire, said it was contained quickly.
“We had it contained in about five hours. We had 38 ground crew, including public works, three water tenders, five bulldozers and three bear tankers for dropping water,” Biro said. “We had one chopper for bucketing and was also had a chopper for (command).”
Crews remained on scene until late on May 20 to ensure it was completely out.
“The following day we had 26 members and eight from ESRD helping us out,” he said. “We had one dozer and two water tenders assisting us in mop up, basically.”
From the time the county first responded Biro said the fire never increased in size.
“The fire didn’t gain any ground, we held it that night at 59 hectares and it didn’t grow any on the second day,” he said.
“We were concerted about it because the we had wind gusts up to 35 and 40 km/h at times. It could have been disastrous, it doesn’t take much for something to happen, to jump over and start all over again.”
Biro said he wants to thank the public for their support of the fire department, as well as his members for a job well done.
“I’d like to thank the public for the ‘thank-yous’ to our department for doing a heck of a job,” he said. “They did an awesome job, as well as the assistance from ESRD and the other agencies that were out there.”
