When the call came in at 3:04 p.m., crews from Cochrane Fire Service were first to respond to yesterday's wildfire on the Stoney Nakoda Nation just across the river from the West Pointe neighbourhood.

Fire chief David Humphrey praises his crew's quick assessment of the seriousness of the situation and to the Alberta Forest Service for their rapid response.

"The deputy chief (Shawn Polley) and the crews did a really good job getting containment and then getting forestry here to take over," says Fire Chief David Humphrey, who was out of town for meetings. "It was a good decision."

Cochrane responded with four pieces of equipment and seven members to the blaze and called for additional support from Rocky View Fire Service, who responded with an additional two pieces of equipment and four people, says Humphrey.

Wildfire crews arrived shortly afterward with a ground crew and aerial assault team. Three helicopters worked in tandem to continually bombard the blaze with 250-gallon buckets of water while an air tanker laid down fire retardant.

"When it's in close to a community like that they hit it very hard and very quickly and we're very, very fortunate that we have the air support so close by," says Humphrey, who spent part of his career fighting wildfire.

The Cochrane crews were at the scene until relieved at 7 p.m. Alberta Forest Service remained overnight on fire watch and continue to work the area today.

"They won't call it extinguished until they are 100 per cent confident that it's cold," says Humphrey. "That may take all of today until they're happy with it."

Having a westward wind is uncommon here and welcomed yesterday with Bow Ridge homes to the east of the wildfire.

"It was a bit of abnormally. It was a very good day to have winds out of the east."

The fire investigator is expected to be at the scene this afternoon to start the fire investigation.