Friday's grass fire east of Moose Jaw is an all-too-familiar story for farmers and ranchers in the area. 

The fire that destroyed a CN train trestle was apparently sparked by a train passing by - "that's the most likely explanation" said Moose Jaw Fire Chief Rod Montgomery - and Sandra Manz wasn't surprised. 

Manz and her family live just north of where the fire started, and she says when field conditions are as dry as they have been, grass fires are a constant concern.

"We've had three fires in three weeks," Manz claims. "Last year we had four or five fires in a month time span, just from that train passing by."

"Noon and 4 (p.m.), and I can't remember the other times (the train passes by), we always go out and look," she continued. "And.....you hold your breath, hoping you don't smell smoke."

Manz marveled at the efforts of not only the Moose Jaw Fire Department (MJFD), but friends, family and neighbours who all chipped in to try and contain the fire.

"I phoned my husband at work and he came home, I phoned my daughter at work and her and her boyfriend came home, and they went down to fight the fire," said Manz, who chuckled "my daughter got kicked out (from the efforts) because she's seven months pregnant." However, there were plenty of other helping hands on the scene.

"My other neighbour across the road, her and her son went down and then her husband came home," Manz continued. "Then her father-in-law brought his tractor down. My other neighbour north of me, the boys from Prairie Storm Paintball...once there's a hint of smoke everybody comes together." 

The blaze started around 3:30 Friday afternoon, and wasn't fully extinguished until around midnight.  

A large swath of grass was burned to the west of where the fire started

Fire Chief Montgomery was also impressed with the willingness of local citizens to lend assistance. 

"The farmers in the area have always been helpful in mitigating those types of problems," he said. "It's nice to see there are still a lot of Good Samaritans out there who are willing to help out."

CN Rail says they are investigating to see if they have record of previous incidents in the area, but did issue a statement Monday morning that said "the line remains out of service and we are evaluating various options to serve our customers in the area."