Firefighters in the rural municipality of Stuartburn, Man. are continuing to battle a brush fire, as dry, windy weather proves to be problematic in the area.
The blaze broke out around 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon about 6 kilometres southeast of Vita, Man.
Vita is located roughly 100 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.
On Friday afternoon, Stuartburn fire chief Bob Fosty told CTV News it was difficult to estimate the size of the fire because crews were still working to access it from every side as they worked with varying terrain.
The rural municipality brought in an excavator Friday in hopes of accessing an area where the fire could potentially still be burning.
“The terrain is very tough. We’ve got a lot of bush. We’ve got a lot of swampy areas. We’ve got areas we can’t even cross because there’s a lot of water in there. We’ve got to get man power and equipment in there,” said Fosty.
“80 percent of the time we are good with ATVs, we can go between the trees, we can do what we need to. But there are times it’s just too heavy.”
As of late Friday afternoon, Fosty said crews would have a better idea of how long it would take to put out the fire once they had better access.
Three buildings were initially threatened by the fire but they were not damaged.
There is a burn ban in effect in Stuartburn, as well as in many other rural municipalities in southern Manitoba.
READ MORE: Burn bans in effect across southern Manitoba
Stuartburn CAO Lucie Maynard stressed the area is seeing a different spring this year, pointing to dry ditches and brush.
“We had quite a bit of snow this year but it didn’t seem to hold a lot of moisture,” said Maynard.
“So when it started to melt we didn’t see the accumulation like we normally do.”
Maynard said they’re reminding people to abide by the burn ban, as the community hopes for some moisture.
“We’re at the mercy of the weather, we just hope for rain.”
