The Guelph-Eramosa Fire Department was one of six fire stations called to a large, fast-moving brush fire just east of Rockwood on the south side of Highway 7 earlier this week.
At about 3pm on April 30 the Rockwood station responded to the call, along with Halton Hills, Milton, Erin, Hillsburgh and Guelph stations.
There were about 30 firefighters in total on the scene.
“We could see large plumes of smoke just as we were leaving the fire hall, so we knew it was a fairly large brush fire,” said Guelph-Eramosa deputy fire chief Jim Petrik.
“Once we got there we used our grass fire unit, … an ATV with a water tank to do some initial suppression to try to get it stopped.
“There was a lot of fire … encroaching on buildings, but we managed to get the fire stopped from progressing towards the buildings.”
Petrik said it was 90 minutes before firefighters stopped the progression of the fire, which encompassed five to seven acres.
“Because it was moving so rapidly with the high winds and the dry conditions, we had to put firefighters at all different areas around the fire … to stop its progression,” Petrik said.
Cause
The cause of the fire is unknown and with no injuries or damage to buildings or equipment, Petrik said there would be minimal costs.
