Saskatchewan Day turned out to be really busy for the Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS), as well as for the Bienfait and North Portal Fire Departments and for several farmers located southeast of Estevan.
At about 3 p.m. on Monday, the EFRS was alerted to the report of wildland/field fire. They responded instantly and could see a significant plume of smoke well before they made it on location.
“Once crews arrived on scene and found that there was a fairly large fire, they immediately called for mutual aid resources from Bienfait Fire Department as well as North Portal Fire Department to assist with this fire so we wouldn’t leave the city unprotected,” said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser.
The home and several other structures were threatened, but fortunately, crews were able to sufficiently suppress the fire and prevent it from destroying most of the property. However, one small outbuilding used as storage for 16 older vehicles and a baler was lost in the fire.
“The cause of the fire was deemed that there was a malfunction of the bailing device, which started the field on fire. But the extremely hot temperatures and wind conditions really spread the fire quite quickly,” said Feser.
The fire chief praised the landowner for keeping the grass around the property fairly short.
“This really helped out in the suppression efforts and saving the actual home itself from being taken out by the fire.”
He also extended their gratitude to all people involved in the operation.
“The Estevan fire department would really like to extend a huge thank you to everybody that assisted us (on Monday) with all the local farming and ranching community. They always pull together in times like this and assisted with fire suppression activities with some older fire trucks that farmers had purchased as well as some other trucks that they have for water pumping. It was a really big group effort, and I’m sure that the homeowners are very happy that we were able to save as much as we did,“ said Feser.
Particularly at the early stages of fire, visibility was very low, and the EFRS had to pull out the firefighting crews several times due to serious safety issues.
“They regained their bearings, found a better anchor point and proceeded through with offensive firefighting tactics in order to knock the leading edge of the fire down to prevent it from consuming the home,” said Feser.
The operation was successful but took firefighters a considerable amount of time. They were able to return to the station after about nine hours spent on the scene. Fortunately, no injuries occurred as a result of the incident.
In other recent fire department news, crews were called to a report of a possible structure fire. The call came in on Saturday at about 9:30 a.m. It was reported that the fire was occurring to the southeast in the RM of Estevan.
There was a bit of heating and smoke in the garage area on the property. Firefighters entered the building and found that an electrical outlet caught on fire. The power was quickly isolated and the fire damage was kept to a minimum.
“Good, quick thinking on behalf of the homeowner that called 911 right away to get crews out there and troubleshoot what exactly has gone wrong,” said Feser. “All the damage was contained to the plug area with some minor sootings up the wall there.”
Crews advised the homeowner to contact the electrician and fix the problem and returned to the station. However, it wasn’t the end of the day for the EFRS. Another residential fire alarm went off at about 10:30 p.m. Once on the scene, specialists couldn't find any smoke or flame. Firefighters contacted the homeowner and it turned out that he was changing the batteries in the alarm system, which triggered the alarm.
“No emergency was occurring. The homeowner was reminded to ensure that he contacts the monitoring agency prior to changing batteries or tampering with any equipment regarding the fire alarm system,” said Feser.
Firefighters were also called the report of a strong smell of smoke and something burning inside one of the homes in Estevan. Once on the scene, crews encountered the described smell.
“It was found that it was a bathroom fan, ventilation fan that has overheated,” said Feser.
The power was isolated for the particular item. Firefighters waited for the temperature to drop back to normal, ensuring that everything was safe, and advised the homeowner to call an electrician.
Saturday afternoon and evening as well as Sunday a crew of four firefighters was also out at the Estevan Motor Speedway to be ready to provide fire, rescue and extrication services during the doubleheader.
