Leslie Wingrowich said she thought someone forgot to turn off the oven when she smelled smoke from the second floor of her Springbank home on Sunday afternoon.
“We had … a large breakfast with the family. We ran downstairs to see if we left the stove on,” recalled Wingrowich, adding when she got to the kitchen, she could no longer smell anything – but could see smoke coming from a property three doors down.
“I had my binoculars (and) we had a little look – it was quite impressive from the get-go,” she said of the quickly moving grass fire that began at a neighbour’s home. “We heard the fire trucks … All of a sudden, we started to hear explosions, and then black smoke. I couldn’t believe how fast it was.
“It was definitely something.”
Rocky View County Fire Chief Randy Smith said hot weather and dry conditions fanned the flames of the fire, which was reported about 1 p.m. and is believed to have started in a field along Range Road 32.
As many as 30 firefighters from four rural stations and two more from Calgary worked together to battle the blaze. Officials also brought in bush buggies – “little rapid … vehicles that can motor across the fields” – as part of the aggressive attack.
“The problem with grass fires … it gets going and it can be stubborn. Crews spent a lot of time trying to set up defensive positions,” Smith said. “You want to go big … because they travel so quickly.”
At its peak, Smith said the fire covered four hectares of land and destroyed an outbuilding on the property, along with several vehicles inside.
In total, it took more than six hours to extinguish the blaze.
“There’s the tires that are burning, there’s the materials that are in the vehicles – they take more time to extinguish,” Smith said.
While crews were busy at the Springbank fire, officials dispatched Crossfield and Redwood Meadows departments to take on any additional emergency calls.
Smith said it was “a team effort” to effectively manage the day.
“While this was going, we had a bailer fire north of Crossfield, we had Redwood Meadows … out on a medical call on the trail at Bragg Creek and we had a motor vehicle accident at Highway 566 where we brought STARS in,” he said. “There was still lots happening all day long.”
Rocky View County is investigating the cause of the blaze, and an estimate of damage is still unknown.
Wingrowich said the fire got as close as her next door neighbour’s driveway, and her husband wet their lawn and packed up their belongings in case the fire engulfed their own home.
“It just makes you feel small,” she said. “Just to be standing there helpless is just a strange feeling.”
