A dry harvest had one local farmer and his family reaching out to thank not only neighbours but people he has never met, for keeping a fire from spiralling out of control.

When Robert Perron's combine hit a rock, the spark started a blaze in the drought scorched field that could have easily spread had it not been for some quick community intervention.

"By the time I turned around to come back up the field I had approximately two acres on fire. So I quickly tried to put it out and realized there was no way I could contain it myself. So I phoned a couple of neighbours and actually, Simmie colony had contacted me when they'd seen the smoke."

Farming about four miles east of the Simmie Hutterite Colony, Perron's wife worked as an EA on the colony for 18 years and as a result, the two neighbours share a good working relationship that would often see the colony calling. In this case, they had seen the smoke from Perron's fire and had contacted him before he had had a chance to do the same.

With both Simmie Colony and Bone Creek Colony soon on the scene, as well as a number of others, that kind of community support is essential in rural areas where the official emergency contacts can be much farther away.

"The Colonies were able to take care of it. We don't have a fire department out here. Our call-out is the RM of Swift Current. But they came with a fire truck, Bone creek came with a fire truck plus a tanker truck. And then MANY neighbours. We had semis with flat-decks with water tanks on them. It was phenomenal how everyone showed up. There were people everywhere."

In the end, Perron'slosses were limited. The fire took down about thirty acres of land that had already been harvested, so in terms of crop, he says he was fortunate.

But it was the response of his neighbours that made Perron want to reach out to Swift Current Online to offer a shout-out and thanks to everyone who responded to save a bad situation from getting out of hand.

"I shouldn't say just neighbours. Just people that came that I didn't recognize or anything. But they came with trailers with little water tanks on them. They came in some old three-quarter tonne trucks with water tanks in the back. They came from all over and my wife and I really want to send a shout out and appreciation for them coming out and saving the day."