ESTEVAN — Estevan Fire Rescue Service members had a surge in calls Saturday, when the southeast was under a wind warning with gusts exceeding 100 kilometres per hour.
The first call for the EFRS came in at 11 a.m. for a tree on a power line in the south end of the city.
"We stood by until SaskPower crews arrived and assisted with cutting down some branches around the lines and making sure that there was no fire," said Estevan Fire Chief Rick Davies.
As crews were wrapping up at that scene, neighbours reported another incident just down the block from where they were. Crews went down there and encountered a similar incident. They removed branches off power lines in conjunction with SaskPower crews.
A third call came in at 12:45 p.m., as another tree hit a power line in the north end of the city. Crews confirmed there was no fire or other emergency, and stood by waiting for SaskPower to arrive to remove branches when another emergency was reported.
They had to leave that scene to respond to the fourth call of the day, which came at about 1 p.m. Firefighters were dispatched to report a grass fire south of the city. Crews responded and confirmed an active fire.
"Crews were able to quickly get the fire under control before it spread from the initial area that it was burning, which was a good thing in the windy conditions," Davies said. "The fire was extinguished without incident, and we're still investigating the cause of that."
Earlier last week, crews were dispatched to a possible fire southwest of the city on Sept. 30.
"Details were pretty iffy on what was going on, so crews responded and investigated, determined that there was no fire occurring. There was a lot of dust in the area due to high winds that morning, so that's what we [assume it was]," Davies said.
On Oct. 3 shortly after 11 a.m., members responded to a reported grass fire south of the city. Upon arrival, crews confirmed there was a small fire.
"We were able to quickly extinguish the fire without incident. No damage or injuries were reported, and the cause is still under investigation," Davies said, noting that burning vegetation created quite a bit of smoke, which might have looked worse than it was from the city.
At about 5.30 p.m., crews were dispatched to a commercial fire alarm in the northeast area of the city. The investigation determined no emergency occurred, and the alarm was due to a cooking-related incident.
On Oct. 4 at 4 a.m., firefighters were called to a commercial fire alarm in the northwest area. They responded, investigated, and determined that no emergency was occurring and there were possible issues with the alarm system.
