In hot, dry conditions it doesn't take much to spark a grass fire, as one resident near Manhattan learned that the hard way Wednesday.
Fire crews from different parts of the Gallatin Valley responded to the grass fire around 3 p.m. The fire quickly spread into the draw on the owner's property off of Camp Creek Rd.
According to Gallatin Gateway Fire Chief Jeremiah Hillier, the owner was using a metal grinder, which caused the surrounding dry grass to spark.
The fire carried into nearby sunflower fields, but the fire chief says those plants were green, helping them extinguish the flames quickly before they spread in that area.
"One spark and that's all it takes," said Hillier.
"Any time you're working with any tool that can make a spark -- I mean even a garden shovel -- this time of year working out in the grass can cause a spark ," he said.