Rimbey firefighters have certainly had ample opportunity to put their skills to the test the last few days.
Fire Chief John Weisgerber said it has been a busy time with several grass fires burning in the area. Due to more than one call coming in at the same time, firemen have found themselves spread thin, trying to be on the scene of each and every fire.
“Some of the guys are getting pretty tired,” Weisgerber said.
Rimbey Fire Department fought a grass fire May 6 south of the Rimbey gas plant from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m. and were back later Tuesday as the fire rekindled itself.
“It was a big fire. There was limited access and it was very hard to get it under control,” he said, adding the Ponoka Fire Department helped control the blaze.
He noted some of Rimbey’s firefighters were also trying to control a couple of other grass fires burning at the same time, thereby limiting the manpower at the scene.
He said it has been a busy year for the department but not the busiest in history. He recalled one year the firemen were called to 11 fires in one day.
Weisberger cautions the public to exercise extreme caution when dealing with outdoor fires, due to the extremely dry conditions.
“Rain would be nice,” he said. “It is that time of year.”