The Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS) has been in its new home for about two months, but the novelty hasn’t worn off for the department.
The department officially started operating out of the building in mid-November, after several months of work by contractors and firefighters to renovate the building and make it suitable for the EFRS’s needs.
The building was previously the Murray GM dealership for Estevan, but when the dealership vacated the building in late 2016 in favour of a new home on Kensington Avenue, the City of Estevan purchased the building for $2.3 million.
The city had been looking at constructing a new fire hall in north Estevan for some time, but viewed purchasing the existing building as a better option because of its location and size, as well as its ability to convert into a new fire hall.
Also, constructing a new fire hall would have cost between $7 million and $10 million.
The fire department had occupied its previous building, located at the intersection of Third Street and 11th Avenue, since 1961. The former fire hall had 6,220 square feet of space; the fire department’s new home has 16,892.
Fire Chief Dale Feser said the new building has been “fantastic.”
“We’ve seen a reduction of about two minutes in response time because the central location,” he told the Mercury. “That includes both the firefighters getting to the station and once they get onto the fire trucks, responding out to the emergency location.”
That time difference might not seem like a lot, but it is a big deal, Feser said, especially if it’s a working structure fire.
“Thirty seconds can make a big difference when it comes to something like that,” said Feser. “When you think about the travel time from the fire station location to the burning structure, and then crews have to set up their operations, we have to effectively catch a hydrant for water supply for fire suppression, and then stretch a couple of hose lines in to actually get water and suppress the fire itself.”
Deputy fire chief Rick Davies echoed Feser’s comments, saying that it’s been a positive mood. The firefighters are pleased to have more space and more room to work.
“Since being in this location, we’ve noticed what we think are better response times for calls, and that’s big,” said Davies.
Members of the EFRS dedicated many hours to get the building ready for occupancy.
“We could not have done this without the firefighters,” said Feser. “They put in thousands and thousands of hours. We’re still tallying up the total number of manhours that have been dedicated and donated by them, just to do a lot of the demolition and preparation work for the contractors, to keep the cost down to a manageable level.”
It’s a reflection of the dedication and volunteerism in the fire department, he said.
“These guys believe in what we do,” said Feser. “They believe in protecting the citizens. And they need to be praised for the amount of work they have done.”
Davies said that once the renovations started in the middle of May, he was in the building just about every day until the fire department moved in.
“For the most part, we had a pretty dedicated crew of people who did a lot of work here themselves, among the guys who could put in the time,” said Davies.
Much larger apparatus floor
The apparatus floor, which houses the fire trucks and other emergency response equipment, including the firefighters’ turnout gear, is much larger. It means the firefighters no longer bump into each other when getting dressed to respond to a fire.
Also included on the apparatus floor are the communications centre and maps of the area.
“Once all of the information has been received, it’s a central call centre location here at the fire station, so the guys can review all of the call criteria, reference it to the maps, get onto the trucks and get out the door they go in a quick and timely fashion,” said Feser.
All of the fire department’s equipment is now under one roof, a luxury they didn’t have at the old fire hall. The apparatus floor is full, and some of the other search and rescue equipment is there, too.
“It sheds quite a bit of time off our response time when it comes to using some of the secondary or seasonal equipment,” said Feser.
Davies noted that not only did they have vehicles parked at the city yard, but the trucks at the old fire hall were packed so tight together that you could barely get the doors open to get in them.
“Now you have the room to walk around, be able to clean them properly and inspect tools properly,” said Davies.
The fire department had basically maxed out the number of firefighters it could accommodate at the old building. It had enough space for 32 tightly-packed stalls. As of Jan. 12, the department had 30 paid on-call firefighters.
The new building has five more stalls, and more can be added if necessary.
A recruiting intake will be held in the spring.
Training room among other amenities
The parts room for the dealership has been converted into a training room for the fire department. Firefighters can sit at desks and learn, or the desks can be cleared out for practice.
“The training room has been very, very active,” said Feser.
An emergency medical responders recertification course in November attracted more than 30 people, including firefighters from Estevan and Bienfait, along with emergency response teams from SaskPower and Westmoreland Coal Company.
It also served as the pickup point for the Estevan Kinettes Club’s pajama campaign when the Community Hamper Association’s toy store was at the fire hall; and it was the site of a luncheon for the Rotary Club of Estevan.
There is also an outdoor training area at the east side of the property that will be further developed in the future. Equipment will be added later.
Eventually Feser would like to see a training facility in the outdoor training area that would cover high-angle rescues and confined space rescue.
“It’s going to have three different Class A burn chambers inside of it. It also will have balconies that can be used for ventilation props.”
The front area of the fire hall includes reception and the offices for Feser and deputy Chief Rick Davies. The area that was used as a showroom when the building was a dealership will eventually be used for informational and historical displays.
Items that the fire department has retained over the years and memorabilia from Feser’s personal collection will be displayed.
Feser has an antique, 150-pound wheeled fire extinguisher that still has its steel wheels, but he wants to refurbish it. He also has old turnout gear and breathing apparatus.
“We do have a mannequin that we’re going to dress up in … period-correct pieces to show the general public what firefighters used to wear compared to what we wear now,” said Feser.
There are also some items from the old fire hall to bring over.
The public education area will include tip sheets for fire safety, including Christmas tree safety, winter travel, space heaters, high-rise occupant safety and smoke alarms for the hearing impaired.
“We have all kinds of different tip sheets there to make sure everyone is safe,” said Feser.
Those items won’t be displayed until the spring.
Bigger and brighter
Feser said it’s nice to have some natural come in through the front windows that they didn’t have in the old building. The department can monitor weather conditions, and greet people who come by to visit the fire hall.
There is also more space for firefighter parking. At the old location, there were four spots for the firefighters to park. Other than that, firefighters had to park on the street.
“Now we’re able to effectively park on our own vehicles here, and the guys can safely make their way into the fire station,” said Feser.
The location is also much better. Not only is it a central site, but it’s adjacent to a pair of arterial roads, Souris Avenue North and 13th Avenue. In their old home, they had to use narrow residential roads to access Fourth Street.
Davies said there is a morale boost to have more room to operate.
“People are watching”
Some people have dropped by to view the new fire hall, including fire chiefs from across the province, and structural and architectural engineers who want to see what the fire department did to repurpose an existing building.
“They’re very excited and they’re very happy with what we’re able to accomplish here,” said Feser. “This has really gotten a lot of people’s attention right across the province.”
It used to be rare to see a fire department take an existing building and convert it to a fire hall, but as communities and fire departments encounter budget issues, organizations are starting to take a look at repurposed building.
Feser noted the Regina Police Service has announced it will convert the former Saskatchewan Transportation Company building into a police station near its headquarters.
“We’ve definitely blazed a lot of trails in this area, and people are watching right across Canada,” said Feser.
Public is adjusting
The public is also adjusting to the fire department’s move to the new location. Feser said the general public is now largely aware the fire department has moved into the 13th Avenue location, but the fire department still asks people to exercise caution when accessing 13th Avenue and Souris Avenue North in case the department is accessing the roads due to a fire call.
Motorists have generally been very good at yielding the right of way, he said.
Feser has also noticed fewer motorists using the fire hall’s parking lot as a thoroughfare from 13th Avenue to Souris Avenue North, thanks to an article appeared in the Mercury in December and a social media campaign.
“An education component really helped out,” said Feser.
The EFRS still has some lingering work in its new home. It has some tasks that it wants to complete on the apparatus floor, including the construction of rooms for the self-contained breathing apparatus fill room, a washroom for the firefighters, a tool room, a pressure washer room, a laundry room for turnout gear, and a hose-drying appliance.
“There is still lots of working going on here, so not everything is perfectly set up the way it should be … but I think the finished product will be pretty good,” said Davies.
The Estevan Emergency Planning head office will be relocated from the upstairs of the old fire hall to the second floor of the new building. Some work needs to be done in the new fire hall for the move to happen, but it appears there will be enough room for the emergency operations centre to be upstairs in the new fire hall.
