Extreme weather conditions created some work for the Estevan Fire Rescue Service this week.
Estevan fire crews were called to the report of a man stuck underneath a trailer and in need of rescue in Bienfait last Tuesday at about 7 p.m. The call was quickly updated, as the person was able to get out from underneath the mobile home.
It was learned that the man was working on broken waterlines, and his spouse couldn't get any contact with him for over half an hour and called 911. The situation changed shortly after that, and the Estevan fire department stood down. However, the Bienfait fire department along with Estevan EMS attended the scene to make sure the man wasn't suffering from any injuries. And the family was grateful for the response.
"Huge rave to Bienfait fire department, Estevan RCMP and the ambulance attendants that attended my call for help when my husband Greg became unresponsive while working underneath our mobile home Tuesday evening. I was fortunate enough to be able to wake him and get him out before the crews arrived, but they didn't leave until they knew he was safe and dry. Could have been very different with the temperatures that night. Thank you all for braving the cold to help," said Debbie Hochstein on social media afterwards.
Earlier that day, Estevan firefighters responded to a report of a commercial fire alarm occurring in the south part of Estevan. There was no smoke or flame on the exterior, but the fire alarm panel was indicating that the sprinkler system was initiated. Staff members who were on scene explained that due to the cold weather the system failed as lines froze and burst.
"Thankfully, there was no fire occurring at this occupancy and we isolated the branch lines for the sprinkler system, so the remainder of the occupancy would be protected. And then we returned to the fire station," said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser.
The next call came in at about 11 p.m. on Wednesday. A concerned resident reported smoke coming out of a basement window of a building in the southcentral part of Estevan. Firefighters checked out the building and found out that it was just a horizontal venting that was releasing the normal exhaust gases, however, it looked abnormal due to cold weather.
The scene was deemed safe and fire crews returned to the station.
Feser reminded the public to regularly check and free the venting systems to prevent potential emergencies.
"Make sure that you are checking the ventilation for the furnaces and hot water heaters as well as your sewer venting. You may get some sewer smell into the home, they have a tendency to ice off as well. So you just want to knock the ice off without breaking the ventilation itself," Feser said.
He added that while horizontal ventilation is easy to work with as it's usually quite close to the ground, vertical ventilation also has to be carefully checked during extremely cold days.
"Exercise extreme caution if you are going on top of the roof. It was brought to our attention that some local tree companies do have bucket trucks. So people can phone around and get them to take a look at their venting. And if it seems to be icing up to get that done for you guys as well."
