The North Battleford Fire Department was able to control a residential four-plex fire Saturday morning without drawing on the city’s water supply. They used a water tanker relay developed by the department during the present city water restrictions, says Fire Chief Albert Headrick.
The fire department responded to the structure, where the fire alarm system had been activated, fire shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday on the 1100 block of 107th Street. Two engines, one tanker, one chief unit and 10 firefighters arrived on the scene where flames and smoke were venting from the street side.
One occupant was removed by firefighters and the fire was quickly brought under control.
Battleford Fire Department was put on standby for additional water shuttle if required. EMS, RCMP, Community Safety Officers, SaskPower and SaskEnergy were also on the scene.
There were no civilian or firefighter injuries.
The origin of the fire has been determined, but the cause is still under investigation.
There is no estimate of the damage known.
According to Fire Department deputy chief for operations Trevor Brice, during the current water restrictions the fire department has three tankers available when usually it has one, for about 7800 gallons; plus it has access to another three more via a mutual aid agreement with the Town of Battleford, for a total of six tankers.
That would allow them to have water on hand to fight fires without tapping the water supply of the city. But Brice said that they could still access the hydrants if they need to as a last resort.
In this particular instance on Saturday the department took along one of the tankers ready to do the relay.
For this fire, they used about 1000 gallons of water which came out of one tanker, and that was sufficient to put out the fire.
