A grass fire can be seen burning west of Suffield Wednesday afternoon ( Photo courtesy Neil Vollman)

By Charles Lefebvre/Jessie Weisner

FIRES UNDER CONTROL

Fires that burned roughly 5,500 acres in Cypress County now under control

Jul 24, 2019 | 4:50 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB — Firefighters in Cypress County were kept busy Wednesday afternoon, responding to at least three grass fires in the region.

Firefighters were originally called out at approximately 2:15 p.m. to a field near Range Road 83 on Wednesday. Within minutes, support was received from CFB Suffield, Box Spring and Dunmore fire departments.

The fire was put out quickly, with most of the crews leaving at approximately 3 p.m.

However, firefighters were then called out to Suffield a second time for a fire west of the community near Range Road 104 and the Trans-Canada Highway. Multiple photos and videos have been sent by travellers passing by.

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A tractor trailer snapped in half at approximately 4 p.m., sending sparks across the highway. Highway 844 is being shut down, and firefighters from the County of Newell, Cypress County and Brooks are responding to the scene.

A truck split in half on the Trans-Canada Highway (submitted photo)

Firefighters contained the fire later Wednesday evening, but not before it burned roughly 3000 acres of land.

Cypress County Fire had help from CFB Suffield Fire, CFB Suffield Range Control, Brooks RCMP, Redcliff RCMP, the Tilley Fire Department and the Jenner Fire Department.

Cypress County firefighters also dealt with a fire near Walsh, Alberta. According to Cypress County Fire, it was caused by a lightening strike.

It burned roughly 2500 acres, and rough terrain made fighting the fire problematic for crews.

Only fire squad trucks could enter the scene, and crews had to travel to the fire by foot.

Crews remain on scene on Thursday putting out hot spots in the area.

Crews did have help from Redcliff RCMP, Maple Creek Fire, Saskatchewan and Alberta Foresty, and Search and Rescue.

In addition, many local residents came out to help.

One resident did suffer from smoke inhalation as well.

“We had lots of locals assisting with the fire efforts, bringing water in water trucks and expertise, he locals around here know prairie fires, how to deal with them and put them out,” says Corporal Shane Ryan, Redcliff RCMP.

Environment Canada also issued a wind warning for the region, noting winds gusts of up to 90 kilometres/hour.

“We had extremely strong winds, we’ve had lots of really hot temperatures lately and those temperatures bring some nasty weather into the prairies, lots of thunderstorms and such,” says Corporal Ryan. “So that made conditions difficult, those high winds were really kicking up the fire.”

Both fires are under control, and no longer pose a risk to the public.