Firefighters Battle Brush Fire in Augusta Township Monday Morning

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Category: Prescott, Augusta & Edwardsburgh/Cardinal

Created on Monday, 06 May 2013 23:16

Written by Tammy Wilson

Augusta - The Augusta Fire Department was dispatched to the scene of a reported brush fire located at 3255 County Road 26 at approximately 11:02 AM Monday morning.

The Augusta Fire Department responded with 2 pumpers, 2 tankers, 2 rescues, and approximately 25 firefighters.  The Elizabethtown-Kitley Fire Department also responded through a mutual aid request with 12 firefighters, 3 tankers, 1 pumper and 1 rescue.

Augusta Fire Rescue Chief Rob Bowman told EON News that the owner was burning brush and left the fire alone for a couple of minutes to go to the barn,  upon exiting the barn, the owner found the fire had spread to the long grass.

Upon arrival of the Augusta FD, the fire had been quickly pushed by a strong wind, into a large area of 30-40ft high cedar trees. The fire, with the help of the wind quickly spread to the tops of the trees with flames reaching to approximately 75 feet high. Luckily, mother nature was on our side and the wind subsided for approximately 30 minutes, which gave us a window to extinguish the main head of the fire. Due to the amount flame and the outside temperatures, it was an extremely hot fire to fight.

Leeds and Grenville EMS was called to be on standby should any firefighters have any heat related emergencies. County road 26 was closed down between county road 15 and Rocky road for approximately 2 hours. An Augusta Township back-hoe was required to assist firefighters in extinguishing any hot spots that had buried themselves in the roots and the very top of the trees.

All the firefighters did an amazing job, at the beginning of the fire, with the wind,  I had the thought that we may need to call for aerial firefighting equipment from the Ministry of Natural Resources, but with Mother Nature's help, the firefighters got it under control. The fire was declared under control at 12:05pm and out at 15:05pm.