Richmound farmer injured in wildfire recovers in hospital

By Gillian Slade on October 21, 2017.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

A farmer in the Richmound and Burstall area seriously injured during Tuesday’s wildfire faces a long recovery in a Calgary hospital.

Eddie Riehl was injured as a wall of fire swept through the area and his truck slid into a ditch.

Riehl, 74, had spent the afternoon moving his cattle across a road from pasture on the west to pasture in the southeast, as news of the fire at Hilda became known, said his son Kevin Riehl. The wind was driving the flames toward Burstall.

Eddie made the decision to linger in the area in his truck to make any changes or release cattle if that became necessary, said Kevin.

Later that evening as smoke increased and visibility became increasingly poor, Eddie was joined by Jeremy Wagner in his truck and later James Hargrave, the rancher and volunteer firefighter from Walsh who passed away that night.

As they waited, the wind suddenly changed direction and took them by surprise, said Kevin. They decided to leave immediately and soon there was a “wall of flame 30 or 40 feet high,” said Kevin.

Two of the vehicles had to turn around in order to move away from the direction of the fire. At each side of the road there were deep ditches and zero visibility.

Kevin says there was no collision of the vehicles and that both inadvertently ended up in the ditch as flames approached. This could not be confirmed by the RCMP.

Sgt. Little of the RCMP in Leader, Sask., says traffic analysts have been investigating and will be putting a report together. He declined to comment further on the circumstances that night until the investigation is complete.

Wagner says he had been heading west that night on the gravel road after being told that the fire had reignited. He was pulled over on the road when Eddie Riehl approached from the other direction and later Hargrave. When the fire suddenly approached it was only about “an eighth of a mile away,” said Wagner. “I said we need to go now.”

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Ultimately Wagner was able to drive away from the fire without having to turn his vehicle around.

“It instantly got black, just like that. It was sand and it was black smoldering smoke and I couldn’t see the road at all,” said Wagner. “It was a total blackout.”

It was not until the following morning Wagner heard about Eddie and Hargrave, he said.

Eddie suffered third degree burns on this hands, elbows and minor burns to his face and knees.

It was about 10 p.m. Tuesday that Kevin went looking for his dad. It was not until about 1 a.m. that neighbours found Eddie walking on the road trying to find help. He was in a state of shock, said Kevin. The situation was so serious and dire he can’t believe he’s alive today.

“He is concerned for the loss of James Hargrave’s life. He wishes he could have done something to help James but there was no chance,” said Kevin. “Devastating for everyone involved. Our hearts go out to the Hargraves.”

In a Calgary hospital Eddie faces surgery and many weeks in hospital, said Kevin.

Eddie lost his entire herd of 85 cattle, representing a financial loss of more than $100,000, said Kevin, who has had the task of looking for the badly burned cattle.

Kevin calls it “a disaster for stewards of the land.”

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