Multiple fire departments tackle grass fire near Okotoks

Three local fire departments had their hands full with a grass fire yesterday (March 30.)

It broke out about two miles south of Okotoks near Highway 783 at around 3 p.m.

Okotoks Deputy Fire Chief Dave Hodgins says it was spread across a few properties but was mainly limited to fields.

"This grassfire encompassed several properties. No damage to structures, but it did have some slight damage to some storage in some of the yards. There were no injuries."

He says they had some help from neighboring municipalities.

"With Okotoks, we had two of our wildland trucks there, one tender, and one engine. We also used one wildland truck and one tender from High River, and one wildland truck and one tender from Turner Valley to help us out."

Luckily, personnel were able to keep it from spreading too far.

"Once crews arrived they were able to knock it down fairly quickly. Due to the winds, it did go another 100 metres or so but it didn't involve any other property at that time."

March is the beginning of wildfire season in Alberta, with grassfires easily starting and spreading over the dry prairies, often aided by strong wind.

"Conditions are quite prevalent for grassfires right now because of the dry grass conditions... Disposal of cigarettes and use of burn barrels in the county should all be used with caution right now."

Hodgins estimates Okotoks crews have attended to four or five grass fires in the last few weeks. 

He says this and a fire that took down a large storage shed just over a week ago are the biggest they've seen so far in 2022.

All in all, crews were on scene for about three hours.

An investigation into the cause is still underway.