High winds helped a grass fire east of Okotoks spread quickly on Tuesday.
The fire broke out at about 2 p.m. on Aug. 27 near 176 Street East, north of Highway 547 about 20 kilometres east of Okotoks in Foothills County.
About 40 acres of cropland and a treed area were burned, said Foothills Fire Department deputy Chief Alex Marshall.
“We probably lost 20 acres in under six minutes, with the strong winds making it really hard to contain the fire at first,” Marshall said.
He said wind speeds at the fire were thought to be much higher than the 40 km/h reported.
At the peak, about 20 firefighters from Foothills Fire Department, Okotoks Fire & Rescue and the High River Fire Department worked to put out the fire, in addition to farmers from the area.
“We had a lot of farmers with farm machinery out there helping us try to get it under control, but everything was so dry and it was pushed by strong winds,” said Marshall.
Crews were on scene until late into the night and stayed until rain started falling.
“We were there until about 11 last night and had crews on fire watch until about one in the morning, making sure there was no rekindling,” Marshall said.
There were no injuries, and no buildings or equipment were damaged.