Strong winds and dry grass fuels fire in Rocky View County

A brief scare in Rocky View County Tuesday afternoon after strong winds and dry grass fueled a grass fire near the Jumping Pound gas plant in Rocky View County.

First responders got the call around 2:30 p.m. and sent crews from several different stations to the site including Cochrane, Springbank, and Bearspaw.

Rocky View District Chief Dax Huba says the fire was also tended to by twenty plant workers so they had quite a few hands involved.

“We had to work pretty fast and we actually had to use a lot of man power to put this fire out because we couldn’t get trucks into the hills,” said Huba.

“We’re unseasonably busy with grass fires, the low snow, the real dry conditions over the summer have really let themselves into the fall and into winter,” he said.

Huba says they were able to push the fire into a heavily wooded area and it was able to slow it down.

“It’s looking like it’s part of a flaring incident but it’s still under investigation and we won’t know until we can take some pictures and take some statements,” he explained.

They’re asking Rocky View County residents to be careful about any open fires they might have and adds they are considering another burn ban over the Christmas holidays.

“Fires are unpredictable, they can move really, really quickly and burn a lot of stuff,” said the district chief.

It’s believed the fire swept through an area of three and a half acres over a seven-minute time frame.