Firefighters fought a blaze in Cypress County near Redcliff's northern town limits for about four hours on Thursday morning. The equipment and RV storage yard was located adjacent to an oilfield hauling storage tank depot, but that facility was not damaged, according to sources.--News Photo Collin GallanT
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Fire crews spent hours battling a blaze at a storage and laydown yard next to a tank farm, north of Redcliff on Thursday morning.
The dark column of smoke sent up was clearly visibly during Remembrance Day services in downtown Medicine Hat at 11 a.m.
RCMP and Cypress County attended the site, located on Range Road 64, which is the extension of Mitchell Street in the town. The fire was contained to the yard adjacent to Pats Offroad tank facility about 1.5 kilometres north of town limits.
The News hasn’t yet discerned the ownership of the exact location, but officials with the oil-hauling company, told the News in the early afternoon the fire was under control.
“It really had nothing to do with our tanks,” said Justin Dirk, of Pat’s Offroad. “No one was hurt, the fire’s out (at 2 p.m.), and we’re just figuring out what we’re doing next.”
The fire was also visible from Boundary Road near the Medicine Hat Speedway, from which popping explosions could be heard.
Cars began to circle the lane way behind shops on Dirkson Drive in the northern portion of Redcliff, with motorists attempting to get a better view of the smouldering blaze. Water was hauled to the site along the range road for several hours to supply firefighters, leading to the RCMP to block the road entirely to non-essential vehicles.
