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Lethbridge fire crews battle wind and flames in 3 separate blazes

Click to play video: 'Lethbridge fire crews battle winds and flames'
Lethbridge fire crews battle winds and flames
City of Lethbridge officials are reminding residents to be extremely cautious in these windy and dry conditions. As Erik Bay reports, crews responded to multiple fires Tuesday – May 18, 2021

Tuesday was a busy afternoon for the Lethbridge’s fire crews, as firefighters were called to three separate blazes on a warm, windy day.

Firefighters responded to a shed fire at the 600 block of 5 Street, roughly 30 minutes after crews finished dealing with a fence and garbage fire.

Along with the shed, a car was also damaged in the fire, and a nearby garage and house suffered minor damage before crews were able to put out the flames.

“The guys were able to get lines on it and get it knocked down fairly quickly before the fire spread to any exposures,” said Cody Gundlock, deputy chief of operations with Lethbridge Fire & EMS.

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While firefighters doused the second blaze, a third fire sprung up in the coulees of Scenic Drive, forcing all four of the city’s fire stations into action.

“Wind-driven fire obviously pushes pretty quick, so a little bit of a resource issue, but we got on top of it pretty quick,” Gundlock said.

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In a tweet, the City of Lethbridge reminded residents to take care in the windy conditions, asking people to be extremely cautious with fire risk activities such as smoking.

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Gundlock said the high winds complicate fire response.

“The wind-driven conditions obviously makes it difficult for our crews to get lines on the fire as it spreads and, again, in our wind conditions here it can spread quickly,” Gundlock said.

Lethbridge Fire & EMS said there were no injuries reported as a result of the fires, and the causes of each are still under investigation.

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