Grass fire in Corman Park destroys estimated $3M of property
CBC News | Posted: August 21, 2024 6:51 PM | Last Updated: August 21
Fire lasted nearly 12 hours and burned more than 300 hectares
A grass fire south of Saskatoon burned for nearly 12 hours and destroyed millions of dollars of property.
The Saskatoon Fire Department says dry and windy conditions on Tuesday made it difficult to fight the fire in Corman Park, but help from the Clavet Fire Department and farmers kept the blaze from causing more damage.
A combine working in a wheat field is the suspected cause of the fire, said Deputy Chief Rob Hogan during a news conference at Fire Station No. 1 Wednesday in Saskatoon morning.
The blaze destroyed a home, multiple structures and vehicles, and a lot of small equipment, and burned more than 300 hectares of land. Hogan said the damage is estimated at $3 million. No one was injured.
"It was moving fast," Hogan said. "If you go out there and take a look, these houses are in a really densely treed area. And while we were doing a good job of protecting the one structure, unfortunately, just due to the size and the wind conditions, it was really hard to protect."
The fire started mid-afternoon Tuesday and burned throughout the night. Crews extinguished the fire by 2 a.m. CST.
WATCH | Crews battle massive grass fire near Saskatoon:
Hogan said city crews got help from local farmers who brought in heavy equipment.
"They were able to go through the wheat field, knock it down and create a fire break for us so that the fire wouldn't spread," Hogan said.
"They helped circle some of the brush that's out there to prevent the fire from getting to the brush. Once it gets into that, it's very difficult for us to contain, so we just tend to let it burn out."
Crews were back on scene Wednesday morning to monitor hot spots.
"Unfortunately with these types of fires, once the area is burned and it becomes black, if there's still something like a hay bale or something burning in there, we just leave it, because it's going to take forever to put it out," Hogan said.
"So there are still some hotspots out there, but they're in an area that's contained."