Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser is praising a quick response to a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm on Friday afternoon.
When members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service arrived at the residence in east Estevan, they found family members were already outside the home. SaskEnergy was on the scene for the call.
“There was over 390 parts per million that was released inside the home itself. We’re very thankful that the occupants of the house did not suffer any CO exposure whatsoever. They were able to get out prior to the elevated CO … entering into the home,” said Feser.
The fire department worked with SaskEnergy to find the cause of the situation, and ventilated the structure to return to zero parts per million in the home.
Feser reminds the public to ensure CO detection devices are working effectively, especially when it is very hot and humid outside. The humidity can create some thermal inversion days in which the gases in the home and from gas-fired appliances aren’t able to escape the home properly.
In other recent calls, the fire department was among the emergency crews called to a collision between a semi-trailer unit and a half-tonne truck on Thursday at the junction of Highways 39 and 18 east of Estevan. No dangerous goods were on the semi unit that was involved, and EMS crews treated everyone on scene. One person was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The Estevan RCMP was also called out to the collision.
On Friday morning, the fire department was dispatched regarding a smoke alarm investigation by a concerned citizen. A crew was sent to investigate, and found it was an aging detection system that was the cause of the alarm.
The next call came Saturday morning, when they were called to a commercial fire alarm in southeast Estevan. Crews arrived to find that the cleaning staff was in the office and the vacuum cleaner bag broke open, disbursing dust and causing the alarm to trigger. Crews stood down and returned to the fire station.
On Sunday afternoon, crews were called to a residential fire alarm in north central Estevan. Crews were almost on scene when they were notified the homeowner was changing the battery of a smoke alarm, which set off the system.
Feser asks that when people perform maintenance on smoke alarms, that they inform the alarm company to prevent the fire department from being called out.
In the community, the fire department was at the Estevan Motor Speedway for the programs on Friday and Saturday night, in case their services were needed.
And they were at the Southern Plains Co-op’s Estevan grocery store on Saturday. A fundraising barbecue took place, with all the funds directed back to the fire department so they can continue to purchase equipment.
