Large grass fire destroys buildings north of Virden, Man. Sunday

A grass fire destroyed a number of buildings north of Virden, Man. Sunday afternoon.

Wallace District Fire Department Chief Brad Yochim said crews were called to a property about 10 miles fromthe town at about 1 p.m. Sunday after a controlled burn by an area landowner got away.

The fire scorched about 20 acres of land and two abandoned buildings and an old barn, Yochim said.
"The wind got up and the grass got away on him, the fire got away on him," he said.

A farmer's yard and house were spared. It took fire crews about two hours to extinguish the flames.

About 35 firefighters from Virden, Elkhorn and Miniota helped fight the flames, according to Yochim.

He suggests landowners keep a close eye on any burning they are doing as the land is extremely dry right now.

"It [grass] burns very easily right now," he said. "They should be very, very cautious if they are going to do any kind of burning whatsoever."

Yochim said this was the first grass fire Wallace District firefighters responded to this year, about two weeks earlier than normal.

Nobody was injured as a result of the fire.