Horses evacuated as grass fire rages

Dozens of horses were safely evacuated from a barn as a raging grass fire burnt through a swath of land and engulfed a tractor just south of Brandon on Friday.

“We have 40-something horses and they’re all out,” Bryon Decorte said while sitting in his truck outside of Pine Castle Farm, which he and his wife, Erin Anderson, have owned for 10 years.

“Nobody’s hurt, thank God.”

Brandon Fire and Emergency Services was called to the fire at around 1:30 p.m., Chief Terry Parlow told the Sun.

As of 4 p.m., Parlow said he didn’t know the cause of the fire, but Brandon firefighters were at the scene working to contain it.

“They are actually working very hard — there are possible properties that could be somewhat affected, so we’re doing our best to protect all the properties and contain it to a certain area,” he said.

He said the main focus was protecting the people and the property in the area.

Oakland-Wawanesa Fire Department also responded to the blaze, which picked up repeatedly during the afternoon.

Multiple people said the fire started near the Brandon Gun Club, east of Highway 10 and just south of Glencarnock Road in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis.

Throughout the afternoon, the fire spread eastward south of Glencarnock Road, before moving toward First Street and threatening Pine Castle.

Britanni Enns, who lives across the road from Pine Castle, said she was told there was a fire near the Brandon Gun Club at around 10 a.m. and that it may have been a controlled burn.

Contacted by the Sun, the RM could not confirm whether the fire started as a controlled burn or if any burn permits had been issued.

“I saw a little smoke but didn’t think much of it. Then later on … it got larger, so we came out to see what happened,” Enns said.

“It was a little scary as it came to the road … The fire became quite large for a while.”

She said she saw Decorte, who is her neighbour, in his tractor trying to stop the fire as it was getting closer to the road, but the tractor caught on fire.

Luckily, he got out safely, Enns said.

“Thankfully people are safe. Buildings can be replaced, people can’t, so we are very thankful so far that everyone’s safe,” she said.

The fire looked like it was quite “widespread,” and the dry conditions didn’t help, she said.

Enns said her main concern was trying to help people wherever she could.

“Just trying to come together as a community as best we can.”

Decorte said he was “overwhelmed” with the amount of support from the community.

He said he and his wife are lucky to live in a community where “people show up.” He thanked everyone who came out and helped evacuate the horses, with some of them driving from miles away, he said.

Decorte also emphasized that nobody should be lighting fires when it’s as dry as it was on Friday.

“You think it’s a little controlled burn — it’s too dry,” he said.

Decorte said he wasn’t certain how the fire started.

“Don’t light fires when it’s dry.”

On Friday, the RM of Cornwallis website announced a partial fire ban, prohibiting all open fires between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and stating that fires outside of those hours must be in an approved CSA-certified fire pit.

The ban also prohibits motorized backcountry travel between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The public notice said issued burn permits are cancelled and will not be issued until fire danger conditions improve.

Cornwallis Reeve Mike Waddell said he could not provide any details on how the fire started or if there were any burn permits that had been issued.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com