NORTH BATTLEFORD — It was not a typical patrol for security guards Dwayne Bourassa, Ethan Maurice, Roger McCallum and Edwin Gunn. in North Battleford in the early hours of Tuesday, May 30, who saved two elderly residents from what could have been a catastrophic house fire.
Early in the morning of May 30, a structure on 99th Street was engulfed in flames when the North Battleford Fire Department arrived, but due to the efforts of the four security guards recently evacuated from English River First Nation, the two elderly residents escaped without injury.
“While conducting security checks at the Tropical Inn Hotel, Dwayne, Ethan, Roger and Edwin observed smoke coming from the 99th Street area of town," commented Deputy Chief Paul Perry.
"...they immediately attended that neighbourhood, discovered the fire, and rendered assistance to evacuate the property’s residents before our Fire Department arrived on the scene,” said Perry.
The First Security employees are among the more than 500 evacuees who have stayed in North Battleford while wildfires raged in Northern Saskatchewan and were on duty assisting with overseeing the safety of wildfire evacuees at city hotels overnight, as over 250 wildfire evacuees remain in the city.
“Without the actions of these selfless people, the outcome of this structure fire would have been much different and had the potential to result in loss of life. The North Battleford Fire Department commends Dwayne, Ethan, Roger, and Edwin for their efforts and wishes to publicly thank them for their heroic actions in our community," Perry added.
According to the city, a preliminary investigation has determined the cause to be electrical and accidental in nature.
This story has been corrected to update the names of the security gaurds.
