‘Unsung heroes:’ Firefighter thanks farmers for help

After crews battled a grass fire west of Saskatoon over the weekend, one of the firefighters is recognizing some of the unsung heroes of the efforts.

Around 3 a.m. on Sunday, crews from Saskatoon, Dalmeny, Warman, Martensville and Langham were able to extinguish the blaze that started near the intersection of Township Road 380 and Range Road 3073 more than 12 hours earlier.

Warman Fire Chief Russ Austin said a few dozen farmers also showed up to lend a hand – and some equipment – to the crews.

“It’s the Saskatchewan way to help your neighbours,” Austin said. “We had about two dozen farmers that came through with diskers, bringing water containers, heavy equipment, making meals and drinking water. (They’re) really the unsung heroes of this thing.”

The farmers brought out gallons and gallons of water to ensure crews had enough. Austin admitted it can be tough to find a water supply from which to draw.

“It’s a little bit of an adventure sometimes, especially in the spring because the fields are soft so trying to even get close to a dugout or a slough or something to suck water out of can be very tough to do,” he said.

Austin said it has been a sort of unspoken relationship between property owners and firefighters that goes back a while.

“I grew up rural so it was neighbours helping neighbours at that point and it continues today,” he said.

Austin noted that if people want to help out and provide equipment for a fire, it’s best for them to call the controlled burn line or 911 and describe what they want to provide. From there, they can be guided to a safe staging area.

Nipawin crop-duster also used to battle the blaze

A Nipawin crop-duster is among the help firefighters received while battling the grassfire west of Saskatoon over the weekend.

Accumark pilot Travis Karle was inside the plane and dropped two loads of water onto the blaze. It was the first time he’s done it under the province’s new Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) Program, which uses agriculture aircraft to help fight fires.

“It went well — it went extremely well,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to go out and assist and just utilize our services that we already have.”

One abandoned farm yard was destroyed in the fire — that happened before the crop-duster arrived on scene, Karle said.

In the end, Saskatoon Fire confirmed three farms were saved and nobody was hurt.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the amount of time it took to put the fire out.