When Stan and Clara Byer looked out their farmhouse window last Sunday afternoon they noticed smoke along the horizon toward Cowley.
They never dreamed the fast-moving prairie fire would travel about 50 kilometres and reach their Granum farm.
“We could see the smoke and we weren’t concerned until a woman came rushing in and told us we had to get out,” said Clara the day after she and her husband were ordered out of their home.
This unprecedented winter prairie fire that raged across southwestern Alberta Dec. 14 displaced ranchers, killed livestock due to smoke inhalation and burned about 100 sq. km of grassland in the Porcupine Hills.
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With less than a half-hour’s notice the retired farm couple escaped the farm that has been in the Byer family since 1903. Except for the clothes they were wearing, everything they owned was lost in the worst prairie fire ever seen in the area.
The fire moved quickly across tinder dry prairie grasses and along the tree line. At times, the flames were eight metres high, said Clara.
“We went back this morning to see and there is nothing left but rubble,” she said. Still in shock from the loss, she has no idea how much damage has been done to the farm.
They rented their farmland to the neighboring Granum Hutterite Colony, which lost some outbuildings and a feedlot but managed to save animals and homes.
Now she and Stan are staying at a motel in Claresholm trying to decide what to do next with help from the Red Cross. Their daughter, who lives at Hinton, has offered them a home. Ironically, other relatives at Hinton live near the forest fires that were burning out of control as of Dec. 15.
Woman badly burned
An 80-year-old woman was the only injury reported in the southern Alberta fire. She suffered second and third degree burns and is in a Calgary hospital listed in serious condition.
Power and telephone lines are down in some areas. Officials have estimated 2,000 to 3,000 cattle are at large.
The fire started about 14 kilometres east of the Oldman River Dam and swept across roads and as far north as Granum on Highway 2. Fanned by winds of 50 km-h or better, it burned grass, timber and at least five homes.
The fire was stopped before it reached the village of Granum where about 350 people live. The town was evacuated due to choking smoke. The fire swept a path about 15 km wide and 80 km long, burning into the night and early the next day.
The area has been parched all fall and there is no snow cover.
“There was lots of fuel on the ground. It’s not something we normally see,” said Cpl. Jamie Johnson of the Fort Macleod RCMP detachment, which is investigating the cause and assessing damage.
Residents spent the early part of the week checking the area for hot spots that could flare up again in the windy, dry weather.
The area has been declared a disaster area, which makes it eligible for government assistance.
The Western Stock Growers planned to meet earlier this week and organize a relief fund for those who lost their winter grazing, stockpiled hay, cattle or homes. The president of the stock growers, Norm Ward of Granum, lost an estimated 3,000 acres of grassland and all his hay.
The stock growers can be reached in Calgary at 403-250-9121.
