Neighbours pitch in to save family's home

Heroes was the word Leslie Cornell used to describe the neighbours and friends who banded together to stop a fire from reaching her family's house in the Rural Municipality of Hillsborough on May 5.
The group of about 20 friends and neighbours prevented the grassfire on Cornell's property from getting any closer to the house than 100 metres, she said.
One neighbour drove past the ditch where the fire initially started, and after briefly trying to stomp out the first flames, he contacted a few other neighbours. She said the phone chain continued until about 20 people had arrived to help and the Moose Jaw Fire Department had been called.
George Paterson of the Moose Jaw Fire Department said the blaze started at approximately 1:15 that afternoon in a ditch right off a grid road and began spreading north towards Cornell's farm.
Neither Cornell nor her husband were at home at the time.
She was contacted by one of her neighbours once they realized the flames were heading for her farmyard.
She said receiving the call was terrifying, but added she felt blessed her neighbours and friends all contributed to putting out the fire.
The Moose Jaw Fire Department was contacted at 1:26 p.m. but while waiting for crews to make the 27-kilometre trip to the farm from Moose Jaw, the volunteers fought the flames by using water from one neighbour's tank he had ready for spraying his fields.
When the Moose Jaw fire crew arrived the fire had already been half extinguished, according to Cornell.
The fire had travelled about 180 metres and entered the farmyard. However, the volunteers had kept it from advancing any further.
Paterson said by the time it had been completely extinguished by the Moose Jaw fire crew, it had been nearly three hours since it started.
The actual cause of the fire is unknown. However, Paterson noted that since the fire started in a ditch beside a grid road, there is a possibility a discarded cigarette started the fire.

Karson Fritzler can be reached at 691-1255.