Grand Forks Fire/Rescue is crediting good Samaritans, green grass and calm winds for containing a series of grass fires Friday, July 2.

Grass burns near on eastbound shoulder of Carson Road, west of Cooper Road Friday afternoon, July 2. Photo: Laurie Tritschler

Dep. Fire Chief Rich Piché said he arrived at a roughly 1.2 square-kilometre blaze on the 2300-block of Carson Road at around 4:20 p.m. Two smaller grass fires, separated by perhaps 30 metres, had been largely put out by local residents and passersby who attacked the flames with garden hoses, he added.

Dep. Fire Chief Rich Piché radios fire crews on Carson Road Friday, July 2. Photo: Laurie Tritschler

Volunteer firefighters then knocked down the larger blaze. No buildings caught fire and no one was hurt.

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The fires could have spread much further had it not been for the residents’ quick-thinking, the south-lying green pastures and, vitally, the near-total absence of a breeze Friday afternoon, Piché said.

The cause of the fires was officially undetermined, he told The Gazette Monday, July 5. While nothing at the scene pointed to anything suspicious, he commented that it was unusual to have three fires so close together.

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Grand Forks Gazette