Wildland Fire

A field fire occurred north of Islay, in the early afternoon of April 20. Islay Fire Department was the first to arrive on scene and made the decision to call Clandonald Fire Department for back-up. After arriving on scene a third call went out to Dewberry Fire & Rescue to help contain the fire. A request for the County of Vermilion River Community Peace Officers was also dispatched to provide traffic management and safeguard responding emergency vehicles. A fourth alarm was assigned to Vermilion Fire and Rescue for additional wildland units and water.

Public Works, local farmers, and nearby industrial heavy equipment operators joined the fight and cut fire breaks around the perimeter while firefighters gained headway on the flames.

Over the span of five hours, four departments/stations, and over 31 firefighters later, the fire was contained and extinguished.

“The fire was investigated and the cause of the fire was actually a previous burn (with permit) that occurred in November 2020. The pile had sat for the entire winter, but yesterday it just flared up under the pile and managed to get tossed around by the wind before landing on nearby grass that caught fire. The wind pushed the fire to the northeast. Due to the wind and the absolute dry conditions, it ate up 581,413 sq m of land before we could get it stopped,” stated Kirk Hughes, CVR Director of Protective Services.

Fire trucks and firefighters on scene. Photo credit: Kirk Hughes

Firefighters on scene. Photo credit: Kirk Hughes