Estevan firefighters had several calls and also held intensive training at the Derrick Motor Hotel last week.
On Sunday at about 1:30 p.m. fire crews were called out to a wildland field fire that was occurring west of the city in the RM of Estevan. The fire was fairly small, but it was occurring in close proximity to a house.
"We were able to get in there and knock down the flames before it damaged any property. There was no injury," Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser said.
"We'd also like to thank the local neighbour, a farmer that had come out with a double-discer and helped cutting fire guards while crews were doing suppression efforts."
It turned out that the family was starting a bonfire in their yard, but the wind came up and the fire got away on them and picked some longer vegetation.
Just a few hours later, at about 5 p.m., firefighters were called to the report of a fence/backyard fire.
"The cause of the fire was deemed that the backyard neighbour has disposed of hot ashes from a fire pit into a plastic barrel, which started the barrel on fire, burned it down to the ground and started the fence and grass and vegetation on fire in the back yard," Feser said.
The homeowner was able to extinguish the fence with a garden hose, and firefighters ensured the complete extinguishment.
"A really good reminder to those who are using fire pits that when you are taking away the ash and disposing it, you want to use a non-combustible receptacle. Try to find a metal pail or a metal garbage can and make sure that there are no other combustible items in there."
The other homeowner was spoken to. He said that he did check the ashes before disposing and couldn't feel much heat. He was very apologetic about the incident.
"When you are shovelling it out, all it takes is that one little amber and it will actually continue to build heat until it will start a fire," said Feser. "Always be super cautious and always use metal barrels to dispose the ashes."
Later that evening, firefighters were called to a residential fire alarm that occurred at about 7 p.m. in the central Estevan. Once crews arrived on the scene, they found that it was a cooking-related alarm and the problem had been already resolved.
There was just a little bit of smell remaining in the occupancy, so crews stood down from the call and the homeowner was reminded to ensure that they or their tenants should be the first ones to contact if the fire alarm goes off, to prevent the unneeded dispatches for the fire department.
Earlier last weekend, a commercial fire alarm went off in the central area of Estevan. The call came at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. Fire crews couldn't see any smoke or flame on the exterior of the three-story building. They made an entrance, and the fire alarm panel was indicating a flow switch initiation.
"It tells us that there is water flowing in someplace in the building for the sprinkler system," Feser explained.
Crews spent some time searching the entire building and the attic space. No leaks were coming from either piping or sprinkler heads. Firefighters then made it to the main boiler room, which contains a water valve system for the sprinklers.
"It appeared that it was a faulty valve that was in the building."
The scene was turned back over to the maintenance staff to repair the issue.
Monday morning firefighters were also called to assist EMS, which needed to make a forcible entry to gain access to a patient. But within minutes EMS crews were able to get inside the building, so crews stood down and returned to the station.
On top of the regular duties, EFRS members held an intensive training at the Derrick Motor Hotel in over the weekend. Feser said that the training went really well.
"We were able to go in there and do some specialized training where we had some wall breach drills, and we had disentanglement drills and some disorientation drills, and smoked house drills. All kinds of stuff that is hard to replicate in smaller environments," Feser said. "It's nice to get into a nice big structure like that and really get into the play and have a bunch of different evolutions and scenarios going all at the same time."
Firefighters dedicated Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday night to the training.
