Charred land continued to smolder on the Blood Indian reserve and the outskirts of Lethbridge this morning as fire crews work to extinguish hot spots.
A large grass fire started Monday afternoon on the Blood reserve west of Lethbridge, burning crops and grassland on a path that threatened the town of Coalhurst and parts of west Lethbridge.
At a news conference held this morning, Lethbridge fire chief Brian Cornforth said the fire was being held at bay by more than 100 firefighters and responders, but it has not been extinguished.
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Winds gusting to 110 km/h yesterday pushed the fire, and strong winds are also forecast for this afternoon.
Cornforth said yesterday’s fire had a ground speed of 140 metres per minute.
“That’s a fast moving fire, and we don’t want people in the area.”
With the threat of high winds in mind, Cornforth said it is crucial that fire crews contain the fire.
“The fire will be contained and we will work throughout the day to keep this fire, and knock it down into the very centre so we can hold this fire off.”
The Alberta Sustainable Resource Development has supplied personnel and aircraft to survey the fire using infrared technology so hot spots can be found and extinguished. Planes also sprayed water and fire retardant yesterday evening, but those efforts halted with darkness.
Residents in the town of Coalhurst were evacuated yesterday afternoon as the fire tracked toward homes on its southwestern edge. People in several County of Lethbridge subdivisions were also forced to leave and had not been permitted to return as of this morning.
“We know that we have some structures that we’ve lost. We don’t believe there’s any homes lost at this time. These are outbuildings, these are hay sheds and livestock buildings that we’ve lost,” said Cornforth.
He did not have figures on how much cropland had burned. Media reports suggested yesterday that 12,000 acres had burned but that is not confirmed.
Figures will be available once an aerial reconnaissance this morning is analyzed and fires are put out, Cornforth said.
The fire affected electrical and gas lines, and crews were out this morning trying to restore power and assess damage to charred and toppled electrical poles.
Another grass fire west of Milk River yesterday forced the evacuation of all residents, who were initially routed to Coutts and then rerouted to Raymond when the wind shifted.
Damage from that fire has not been assessed, but early unconfirmed reports indicated farm homes had burned.
