A fire that started this morning and went into the afternoon southwest of Swift Current is now out, after dozens of people came together to prevent it from spreading.

RM of Swift Current Fire Chief Louis Cherpin said a power pole failure was the cause.

The RM got a call around 10 a.m. and by 1:45 p.m. firefighters were gone and the land owner was left to keep an eye on things.

Several fires this fall, including blazes around Glentworth, Tompkins, and Burstall and Leader have shown how quickly things can spread with dry, windy conditions.

"It was really windy. Today is windy. It's very dry, very windy," he said once things were extinguished. "We want everybody to be careful because it is very dry in southwest Saskatchewan."

Things didn't spread too much, but smoke could be seen and smelled a while away, especially with the wind coming strong northwest.

Seven members of the RM's firefighting crew were at the site, a few miles south of the grain terminals on Highway 1 just west of Swift Current. There were also a few trucks from the City of Swift Current's Fire Department, as well as graders from the RM piling dirt around the perimter of the fire, and about 40 local farmers helping fight the flames.

"I'd like to thank all the farmers, all the people that came out and helped with the fire," said Cherpin. "Without them there's no way we could have put that fire out at the speed that we did."