Winds quickly picking up speed are to blame for a controlled burn raging out of control in southwest Saline County on Saturday afternoon.

Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan tells KSAL News that deputies and Rural Fire Districts No. 2, 3, 6 and 7 all responded to a grass fire that started in the 3600 block of S. Crest Ln. at 12:15 p.m. Saturday.

Jeffrey Benson, 52, of 3645 S. Crest Ln., had a permit for a controlled burn on Saturday. Soldan says that when Benson started the burn, wind speeds were out of the south at just 11 mph. However, the wind quickly picked up and it caused the burn to get out of Benson’s control and raced to the north.

The fire spread to a neighbor’s property, 61-year-old Delbert Prophet, and burned up a fence. The fire spread continued to spread north to the 2700 block of S. Burma Rd. before it was extinguished.

Damage to the fence is $2,600, but luckily, no other damage to property is caused by blaze; as it only burned up grass.

No citations have been issued.