A fire 20 hectares in size broke out two kilometres west of Falcon Lake on the Trans Canada Highway Saturday afternoon.

Manitoba Sustainable Development spokesperson Earl Simmons says the fire occurred just off the eastbound lanes and caused the highway to be closed for a short period of time before the westbound lanes became two-way traffic to allow passage.

Simmons notes investigators have determined the cause of the fire as accidental.

"To illustrate how dry the conditions are right now. A spring, a leaf spring from a person's trailer they pull behind a truck, it broke off and it was red hot. It went flying into the ditch and it was so hot that it started the dry grass on fire."

He notes the fire grew quickly and there were four fire department tankers, four water bombers, and the Ontario water bombers on standby to knock down the flames.

Simmons says they have been able to contain the fire.

"Crews continue to work on that fire today (Sunday). They're making good progress but it was certainly concerning on Saturday given the location and the weather."

Simmons notes no buildings have been compromised. He says the biggest challenge right now is the continued drought.

"We're going into spring being dry from last fall, we didn't receive very much snow this winter and any we had basically evaporated so there was no runoff and then we've had no spring rain."

He adds the biggest concern overall going forward is if the weather doesn't change and continues to be dry.