NIPAWIN — In what Nipawin’s fire chief, David Balding, is calling a “very successful outcome”, a Nipawin home was saved from a structure fire in the late hours of the night.
The Nipawin Fire Department responded to the fire on Pleasant Street at 10:50 p.m. on Sept. 7.
When crews arrived, the flames were being suppressed from the outside by the residents using a gardening hose and fire extinguisher.
Crews took over fighting the fire with a hand line hose from the truck.
“Our crews then completed extinguishment and spent a significant amount of time conducting what we call ‘overhaul’,” Balding said, “which is taking portions of the building apart to ensure the fire didn’t spread, as to not involve the rest of the structure.”
After the fire was extinguished, crews went in with the occupants to retrieve personal items from the structure.
Balding said that what he wants people to take away from this situation is the importance of waiting until the professionals arrive and ensuring that the building is safe before reentering the building, like the residents did.
“They were very good, when they did want to retrieve some effects, once it was safe they asked us, and we had a firefighter escort them and enable them to retrieve some effects. That’s the safe way to do it.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
“We’re happy to report that the structure, for the most part, was unaffected. There was some light smoke damage. We conducted de-smoking operations to assist in that,” Balding said.
“The guys work hard, we don’t just train on hoses and using them. For example, last night we utilized a lot of our training on building construction— knowing how they’re put together so we know where smoke would go and how to take them apart so smoke and fire doesn’t go.”
There were no injuries reported.
The building will require a safety inspection before it can be utilized again.
