Tuesday caused plenty of alarm for some local residents, as a wildfire that ignited from a nearby work-site quickly spread via strong winds across the fields, and threatened livestock and property just outside of Estevan.
Garnet Hall owns one of the two acreages that were in jeopardy due to the inferno, and he watched the events play out before his very own eyes as the flames spread towards his land.
"The new neighbors were building a house, and it seems like the fire started from there. It blew straight across the pasture, right towards our place," he shared.
"It was pretty terrifying, we could have lost our house and my garage and woodworking shop, we could have lost it all I guess in the worst case scenario. I had made a fire guard around it, and that helped to stop it, and then of course the fire department was there in a timely fashion and kept it under control. It could have been a lot worse than it turned out, that's for sure."
In the end, the efforts of both the Estevan and Bienfait Fire Departments and others such as Hall resulted in minimal damage to the property.
He said that he hasn't seen a blaze like this in awhile.
"A few years ago there was a grass fire a little further west, it ran for quite a few miles. It does happen, especially when the grass is so dry that anything at all will spark it and start it on fire. And grass fires move fast, especially when it's windy."
Hall also noted that the response from the local emergency crews was excellent.
"We're really thankful that we do have these volunteer firefighters that do this sort of work. If not, there would be a lot of property damage, maybe lives lost in the worst case scenario. They do a valuable service for sure."
READ MORE: Wildfire Takes Efforts Of Two Departments To Tame
Thu, Apr 18, 6:00 PM
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