Team firefighting effort stops blaze west of Havre at 120 acres

Kremlin Rural Fire Department spearheaded an all-out response late Sunday evening that quickly shut down a fire that burned 120 acres of cropland with both stubble and standing crop on it.

The fire call came in about 9 p.m., Kremlin Fire Chief Kody Peterson said, and they had trucks, tankers and volunteers coming in immediately from neighboring fire districts, businesses and farms.

“It was a pretty huge team event, and we got it whipped pretty quickly,” Peterson said, adding that the fire was completely out in about 2 1/2 hours.

The fire started in a field about 7 miles west of Havre and about 2 1/2 to 3 miles south of U.S. Highway 2, but they don’t know what started it for sure, he said.

No structures, vehicles or equipment were damaged in the blaze, he said.

National Weather Service weather station at the Havre City-County Airport west of town recorded a high of 98 degrees in the late afternoon Sunday and at the time the fire was reported the temp was in the high 80s with winds of 14 to 17 mph out of the east.

Peterson said at about 8 a.m. today he had just checked the burn area and found no trouble areas.