Dry conditions have been a concern throughout the growing season in many areas of the prairies and that concern continues through the harvest.

Each year during the harvest we hear about combine fires.

Mike Kwasnica is President of the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs.

He says they worry about the standing crop, especially cereals like wheat as it dries and is ready for harvest, it can pose a big fire risk. 

"One of the things that we do suggest to farmers is to make sure that the chaff on their combine is cleaned every day. That they make sure that they do bearing checks, they make sure that there is no hot bearings that could cause fires or drop sparks that'll cause a fire within that field."

He notes keeping leaf blowers on your service truck is a wonderful tool to blow your combine off and get rid of all the chaff that starts sticking to it.

Farmers are also encouraged to keep water tankers or trailers within relatively close vicinity to their combines and tractors just to be able to put small fires out quickly. 

Kwasnica points out that with the new combines that we have today, even the older combines the amount of fuel and oil that that you have on these machines is tremendous. 

"The majority of these pieces of equipment are either fiberglass or plastic so you do have a lot of potential for a really large fire."

He says farmers are a lot more aware of the potential for fires and are doing a fantastic job of mitigating anything that might happen.

He adds they see farmers now with tractors and a heavy-duty cultivator in the field so if a fire starts they can surround the combine and build a fire break to make sure that it doesn't go any further than the immediate area.

Another key concern is farm equipment hitting power lines or poles.

With farm equipment getting larger and larger, it can be easy to forget just how tall or wide your equipment is in the rush of harvest.

Before entering fields, producers should always look around and evaluate any potential hazards like power lines.

It's also important to take the time back in the farm yard to do the same, each year we hear about augers coming in contact with power lines.

It pays to take the extra time to make sure the equipment is lowered and far enough away that it won't hit any potential hazards.