The essential rain that fell on parched land last week came one day too late for Weyburn producer Dean Stewart.

Stewart - who farms 10 kilometres south and 10 kilometres west of the city - watched Wednesday afternoon as a fire tore through his yard and swiftly ate up his corrals, granaries, pole sheds and bales, and scorched two quonsets, destroying equipment inside.

On Thursday, a cool and steady rain fell on the blackened buildings.

"If this would've happened 24 hours earlier I don't think it would've cost me a dollar," Stewart said.

Ron Metheral, the local assistant to the fire commissioner, said an investigation determined the cause of the blaze to be electrical. It started near Stewart's livestock corrals where overhanging power wires came down to a pole for the yard light and stock watering tanks.

Sparks lit up some straw, and the ensuing fire burnt the corrals and a couple of pole sheds that shelter cattle. It reached two granaries and grew even larger and hotter, feeding on the pellets and straw inside.

The fire reached two quonsets and caught on some lumber that was inside along the wall. Stewart's Versatile tractor, round baler, large swather and an antique John Deere tractor were destroyed.

All his bales in the yard, including some loaded onto a flatbed, were burnt to the ground.

News of the fire spread almost as quickly as the flames themselves, as many neighbours and friends arrived on the scene to help.

When the Weyburn fire department and a water truck from Brady's Trucking got there, the yard was already engulfed in flames.

They worked quickly to save two other sheds, the barn and the farm house, with some help from the wind blowing in a southeasterly direction.

"The dry conditions and wind were definitely big factors. Everything was so dry it just gets going and wants to burn. But then again, in this case the wind helped to push the fire away from some buildings," said deputy fire chief Murray Sabados.

Some chemicals inside one quonset did burn, so fire fighters were prevented from going inside the building immediately. They did not flood the quonset with water for fear the chemicals would contaminate the ground.

A grader was also made available to plow a fire guard around a nearby field, preventing the fire from spreading any further.