Cigarette Believed To Be Cause Of Orchard Highway Blaze

A discarded cigarette may be to blame for a fire west of Orchard on Sunday afternoon.

Crews were called to a grass fire approximately four and a half miles west of Orchard along Highway 20 according to Orchard fire chief Duane Risinger.

“The fire started right on the very edge of the road and almost certainly was caused by carelessly discarding a cigarette,” Risinger said.

The area in which the fire occurred is actually in Ewing’s fire district, according to Risinger. However, at the time of the call, the Ewing Fire Department was involved with an ambulance call. That prompted the call to Orchard to take care of the situation. In all, 10 firemen from Orchard responded along with two firefighters from Royal. Risinger predicted that the crews were on scene for about an hour and a half.

He attributed the dry weather the area had been experiencing for the quick spread of the flames.

“It was burning out so quick, you could be the greatest runner in the world and have a hard time staying ahead of it. It was really moving,” he said.

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