Winds clocked around 150 kilometers per hour in Southern Alberta on Tuesday created havoc for emergency services all throughout Southern Alberta and the M.D. of Willow Creek.

Claresholm Fire Chief Craig White says the calls started on Monday evening with the discovery of a wildfire just south of Chain Lakes.

"It started when we got a call out for a mutual assist with the wildfire out at Chain lakes, and once the winds really picked up and semi's started tipping over, that was kind of our night."

According to the MD of Willow Creek, there were 12 semi's blown off the road by the high winds, and a few other fires as well.

"Within the Town of Claresholm we responded to two incidents of down power lines, where usually high winds damage the portion of the pole that supports the lines, and those electrical wires come down." He says that can often be a huge safety issue "When the line comes down and it's still live, there is arcing and sparks are seen, they can start subsidiary fires after that."

He says in terms of damages many rural properties lost outbuildings, while some fences and trees were blown down in the town of Claresholm.

White adds the Claresholm Fire Department also attended two other fires on Tuesday, including a structure fire in Granum and a bush fire on the river bottom in Fort Macleod.

"Our crews were sent out there early yesterday morning, and were there (Fort Macleod) until late yesterday afternoon, so it was basically an 18 hour day after it was all said and done."

He says thankfully, every single one of the department's volunteers and staff were available to assist.

"Our volunteers are amazing and we had all of our volunteers and staff out on the calls yesterday and I can't thank them enough for what they do, and thank their employers for giving them the time to serve their community, and all the surrounding communities." White adds "I also need to give a shoutout to Vulcan County for lending us some mutual aid support yesterday, as they lent us a crew that came out to cover Claresholm while we were out attending all the other calls."

While days like this don't come often, White says they seem to be happening more than they used to.

"It doesn't take too much to look back at the March 28 event of this year, where we had that wildfire start south of Claresholm and move right across the M.D. of Willow Creek in the Claresholm area. Something like that is very recent in mind."

He says it's not uncommon to see surrounding towns and counties help each other out during weather events such as the high winds earlier this week.

 

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