Three massive grass fires sweep through southern Alberta
Posted Jan 5, 2012 02:46:33 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Officials will be assessing this morning the damage done by three grass fires that swept through southern Alberta Wednesday.
A downed power line sparked a blaze that charred a 60-square-kilometre area and destroyed three homes near Nanton.
There was also a blaze between Granum and Fort Macleod and a third near Walsh that crossed the boundary into Saskatchewan.
RCMP Sergeant Patrick Webb says some firemen suffered smoke inhalation, but there were no other injuries.
The blazes were fuelled by winds reaching 100-kilometres an hour and dry conditions caused by unseasonably warm temperatures.
It was 15-above in much of southern Alberta Wednesday.
Environment Canada meteorologist David Phillips says the warm trend started in December and still doesn’t show any sign of letting up.
He calls the warm weather “weird, wild and wacky.”
