Heat, dry conditions lead to wheat fire on Churchill Line

565
Petrolia/North Enniskillen firefighters on Churchill Line July 23.

Petrolia/North Enniskillen firefighters spent several hours trying to get a fire in a wheat field under control.

Chief Jay Arns says they were called to the field on Churchill Line Saturday afternoon and found the field and 10 large round bales of hay already on fire.

Crews spent several hours on the scene trying to contain the blaze which damaged several acres of the field which was being harvested at the time.

The temperature was in the 30s with humidex readings edging towards 40 C at the time. Arns says the firefighters took lots of breaks, drank a lot of water and at times removed some of the heavy bunker gear to avoid heat exhaustion.