2 firefighters surrounded but escape grass fire with smoke inhalation injuries

A Winnipeg firefighter feared for his life when he and a colleague got stuck in the middle of a grass fire Wednesday, his union leader says.

"He's one of our best and he thought that this was it. He thought this fire had got him," said Alex Forrest, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg.

About 20 firefighting units were sent to the blazeoff St. Mary's Road, south of the Perimeter Highway near the floodway and east of Duff RoblinProvincial Park, on Wednesday afternoon.

Wind swirled the blaze and it surrounded two firefighters for a time, the city said. They escaped but were taken to Health Sciences Centre for treatment of serious smoke inhalation injuries.

Forrest said one of the men trapped by the firesaid he had never seen a fire move that quickly in his roughly 30-year career.

"The wind conditions were so strong and swirling," Forrest said."The fire engulfed the fire crew and we were very fortunate to get the fire crew out."

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Burn bans are in place in Winnipeg and much of southern Manitoba due to dry spring conditions.

Winnipeg is in the midst of its driest spring in 30 yearsand fourth driest since 1872.

• Manitoba government municipal burning restrictions

Assistant fire chief Mark Reshaur said the biggest worry for firefighters in the city is grass fires spreading to homes.

He urges homeowners to clean up their properties and get rid of anything that could catch on fire. Firefighters will visiting homes in the St. Mary's Road area Saturday to help homeowners identify possible fire sources in their yards.

"Those homeowners need to be thinking about the first 10 metres around their home and outbuildings, and clearing all combustible material that they can out of there," Reshaur said, adding smokers need to be extra cautious right now when putting out cigarettes, because just one ember can start a serious fire.

"We don't want any dead grass or leaves or plant matter accumulating. We don't want people to have wood mulch right up to their house."

Forrest said the fire on Wednesday and one on Sunday near Dugald Road were two of the biggest grass fires in the city in years.

Winnipeg crews are used to fighting house fires in fact, they were simultaneously called to two fires in the West End during the Wednesday grass fire but manylack experience fighting grass fires, Forrest said.

"It is a different animal. It's a different strategy and we're doing it at a time when these grass fires are the worst I've ever seen."