Three significant fires posed a threat to different communities in the southeast over the past few days. Estevan firefighters assisted with battling the flames alongside local fire departments in Bienfait, Torquay and in the Alameda area.
The first call for help for the Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS) came in on Nov. 3 at about 1 p.m. Firefighters were dispatched to assist the Bienfait Fire Department in battling a wildland fire occurring about six kilometres north of town.
"Crews responded and we assisted Bienfait fire with containing and extinguishing that grass fire," said Estevan Deputy Fire Chief Rick Davies.
Local farmers came out and assisted firefighters in putting this fire out as well. There were no injuries and no damage to structures or property other than land.
Estevan fire crews were on scene until 5 p.m., and they left a water truck behind for a few more hours to be used by Bienfait firefighters.
The next emergency occurred on Nov. 4 at about 1 a.m. Estevan fire crews were dispatched to assist the Torquay Fire Department that was battling a grain elevator fire.
Local farmers also brought their equipment and helped firefighters on the scene.
The eastern grain elevator was a complete loss, but there was no other damage and no injuries. Crews were out on the scene for about eight hours.
And almost as soon as firefighters were done with this fire, another call for assistance came in. The EFRS was called in to assist the Portal fire department with the large grass fire south of Frobisher.
Seven Estevan firefighters were on scene alongside dozens of other specialists battling a humongous fire for about seven hours. The EFRFS brought out three pieces of apparatus, including the tanker, new utility truck and the universal terrain vehicle (UTV).
Davies said that both difficult terrain and high-wind conditions made this fire extremely difficult to contain and then extinguish.
"The way the land is it was very hard to access the areas where the fire was burning," said Davies. "And with the wind, it was able to spread faster than we were able to contain it."
"It was a very large fire. We counted that in total there were 11 different fire departments that were on scene at that call."
RM graders, local water haulers and farmers were all also helping in all ways possible to stop the fire.
According to the Carlyle fire department, which also participated in the operation, five fire departments came from North Dakota.
"Other assets on scene included a spray plane, a member from Sask. Public Safety Agency, numerous water tenders and a number of large pieces of equipment to cut fire lines. Hats off to all agencies involved today from both sides of the international boundary," said Carlyle fire department in their Facebook post.
The fire spread over about 4,000 acres, most of which was pasture land.
Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service were also called to a collision at the intersection of Fifth Street and 13th Avenue on Friday afternoon. The Estevan Police Service and the Estevan Emergency Medical Service were also called to the scene.
