clayton &8212; Strong winds and dry conditions combined to turn a small brushfire into a serious threat before volunteer firemen got it under control.

The blaze started early Wednesday afternoon near North of the Border, a bar resting just across the line in Tensas Parish on U.S. 65.

Fire spread east through a stand of trees and into a field approaching a levee, some 100 yards off of the highway.

Concordia Parish Fire District No. 2 Chief Nolen Cothren said they and the Tensas Parish Fire Department were lucky to have gotten there when they did.

&8220;If the fire had gotten over the levee and across that field, it would have taken off,&8221; he said. &8220;Our trucks couldn&8217;t have gotten down there.&8221;

It was difficult enough as it was &8212; the absence of fire hydrants forced firefighters had to go back to Clayton to refill their water tanks.

Cothren said the trucks hold 1,000 gallons of water which lasts them &8220;about a minute&8221; with the hoses going.

In all 10 vehicles from both departments fought the fire.

Cothren said he heard conflicting accounts as to the cause of the fire when he arrived at the scene.

One person told him, Jerry Johns, the owner of the bar, had started it. Then he heard a cigarette tossed from a car was the source.

&8220;There are probably three other stories out there now,&8221; she said.

Johns said he noticed the fire burning around noon but didn&8217;t think much of it.

&8220;I didn&8217;t think it was going to do anything, it would have burned itself out,&8221; Johns said.

Cothren and TPFD Chief Ricky Jones both urged residents to forgo burning anything until the area gets some rain.

&8220;If it keeps on like this, we&8217;re going to have to put the burn ban back in,&8221; Cothren said.