Skip to content

Wildland and vehicle fires occur in Estevan, no injuries

The latest news from the Estevan fire department.
Estevan fire rescue
Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue respond to a wildland and vehicle fires.

ESTEVAN - Estevan Fire Rescue Service members responded to several emergencies lately.

Fire crews rushed to the area west of Estevan, where dry vegetation caught on fire on May 18 at about 11 a.m. The fire, started by a passing train, occurred in the ditch on the side of the railway. A rail crew was dispatched to that location as well, and they were able to keep the fire at bay upon the firefighters' arrival.

EFRS members were able to extinguish the fire without incident. There were no injuries or loss of property as a result of the fire.

"In this case, the source of the ignition would have been a hot rock or some hot metal that's come off the railway engine itself," said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser.

"Just a gentle reminder that even though we are receiving some moisture, the wind does dry off the vegetation quite quickly, and ground fires, wildland fires and crop fires are still very much a real possibility at all times."

The same day at about 4:30 p.m., fire crews responded to a commercial fire alarm that went off in the southcentral area of the city. It was quickly found that it was a cooking-related incident. There wasn't enough smoke remaining in the building for ventilation efforts, and crews returned to the station.

At about 7 p.m., the firefighters' service was again required. This time a vehicle caught on fire at the Rafferty Dam Road.

"Crews did respond to the location and found that the driver had safely exited the vehicle without any injuries. Crews were able to suppress the fire and extinguish it without incident. The cause of the fire has been deemed a malfunction of the vehicle ... The scene was then turned over to RCMP services to wait for towing company to recover the vehicle," Feser said.

Another commercial fire alarm went off in a hotel in northeast Estevan at about 3 p.m. on May 19. It was found upon firefighters' arrival that contractors were cleaning out some ductwork at the location and didn't notify the monitoring agency. The dust mimicked smoke and set off the alarm.

"We were relieved to find that there's no emergency occurring at that location. We took corrective actions and steps with the workers on site to ensure proper notification procedures are in place and turned the scene back over to them," Feser said.

This week the EFRS also had their firetruck maintenance company down to fully test out the engine.