A residential fire in the 1800 block of Gibbs Road on Oct. 21, not only sent Estevan Fire Rescue and Estevan Police Services personnel to the scene, but it also led to more than 250 students from nearby Sacred Heart/Sacŕe Coeur School leaving out the back doors of their school. The staff and students in the school acted in response to an evacuation order from Fire Rescue Chief Shane Code.
The students were trooped over to their neighbouring school Pleasantdale, where they waited in the gymnasium for their parents to pick them up.
Code said he made the decision to evacuate the school for a number of reasons.
“We got the call at 1:40 in the afternoon. Gibbs Road is a narrow street and the school was right across the street from the residence. When we arrived we made a 360 degree assessment and I noticed the smoke coming out of the top and the windows in the home were already glazed and hot, which indicated a serious enough fire and some danger of a possible backflash,” said Code.
“Based on what I observed, I had to make the call to get the students out. The residents of the home were out and safe. It just wouldn’t be safe to have over 200 kids, potentially milling around the fire trucks and I knew they’d be having a recess fairly soon and I didn’t know how long we’d be on the scene.”
Estevan Police Service personnel and school administrators and teachers handled the evacuation duties as the students were led out the back exits of the building and across the playgrounds to Pleasantdale School.
“I don’t know how long it took, but I didn’t even see the kids as they left,” said Code, indicating the evacuation procedures went on without a hitch.
The fire was contained to the subgrade basement and Code said he revisited the scene the next day to determine the cause, which he said was electrical in nature and occurred mid-level, based on how the fire moved.
“I wasn’t able to pin point the exact section, but it would be wiring or a switch,” he said.
Firefighters dealt with the incident for over two hours as the residence filled with brown acrid smoke that required those who entered the building to don masks and oxygren tanks.
“We were able to save some valuables and a few clothing items, but there was significant smoke damage, as well as damages from the hot gases. We managed to keep the fire itself limited to the basement, but the heavy brown, acrid smoke drifted up to the main floor. I would say the interior of this house is lost at this point.”
Code said the residents of the home did have insurance and they were assisted by other family members immediately after the incident.
“We do apologize for the inconvenience to parents and the young students at the school, but it was a decision I felt we had to make based on the early information I had and the need to exercise a degree of caution. The early signs showed a potential for this fire to be one that could have been much worse than it turned out to be.”
