For many people who lived in the Granum, Alberta area saw 
something yesterday that has not been seen in many years. An out 
of control Prairie fire! 

     At about 7:00 am the first supposedly started in the Porcupine 
Hills, just south of Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada. By mid-day it had
grown to a full sized, raging Prairie fire that, by day's end, consumed
about 100 square miles of grazing land and farm land.

     At around 2 pm Sunday afternoon, the town of Granum was begining
evacuations north to Claresholm. At this point the fire was headed 
directly for Granam.
   
     By 5 pm the mayor and town council in Barons were holding an 
emergency meeting to dicuss evacuation procedures. If the fire was to
get by Granum, Barons and Nobleford would be the next two towns in its
path. Fort Macleod was also on evacuation alert all day. At times the
fire was only 8 km from Fort Macleod.

     At 6 pm the fire was 11 miles wide and moving fast, fueled by
100 km/h winds. 
 
     The original fire started in the foothills near Pincher Creek,
Alberta Sunday morning and travelled over 50 km, closing Highway 2
and damaging many buildings. 

     When the fire was able to be controlled about 5 am this morning, 
people all over Southern Alberta rejoiced, though alot of people have
lost everything. Many rural ranchers living in the area lost their
buildings, haystacks, everything they worked for. There are conflicting
reports about the Granum Hutterite Colony. One news station said that
there was nothing left. Another said that a fire-break protected it.

     Now that the fire is under control, people can get back to their
lives. Though they may never totally regain what they lost. I wish a 
Merry Christmas to all the people in the Granum/Fort Macleod/Pincher
Creek areas. What they went through yesterday and what they have to go
through in the future to get back to normal we will never know. All we
can do is pray for them and hope that nothing this destructive comes
again, though deep down we know it will. Only next time it could be
worse. I just thank the Lord that the fire did not take the town of Granum
for if it did alot of people would have no house.

Merry Christmas to all of you and I hope that your lives get better
very soon! Your in our prayers! :-)

                                   - Written by:
                                       Kathleen on Dec 15, 1997



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