The Estevan Fire Rescue Service had to tend to alarm calls, accidents and more during the past week.
Fire Chief Dale Feser said the department was called to a house fire in the northeast rural municipality of Estevan on April 3. The fire had been extinguished when the fire department arrived, but there was still a lot of smoke and heat in the home.
Firefighters removed some smouldering pieces of clothing and other articles from the home, to ensure they wouldn’t rekindle.
“The cause of the fire appears to be a battery-operated remote-controlled car that was charging … and had overheated, sparking the fire and then … starting some clothes in the laundry room adjacent to it on fire,” said Feser.
The homeowners were present at the time, and utilized three fire extinguishers to snuff out the fire.
The fire department also had a couple of accidents to tend to. One was on the northern edge of the city limits on April 5, and the other was in the 400-block of King Street the following day. (See police report for more on the accidents).
The department was also called to complaints on April 5 regarding food vending trucks inside an occupancy, which is not allowed under the fire code. That same day, they were called to a hot electrical smell at a business in the downtown area.
Electricians were called to isolate the electrical breakers and troubleshoot the problem.
A vehicle fire occurred on Highway 39 near Hitchcock on April 7. The lone occupant of the vehicle was able to safely escape.
“It appears that the cause of the fire was an electrical ignition source short in the vehicle itself, which started the vehicle on fire,” said Feser.
Then they were called to a residential smoke alarm in north-central Estevan. The homeowner tried to change the batteries in the system, and neglected to inform the monitoring agency before doing so, resulting in the call.
They were also called to another residential alarm on April 8. When crews arrived on scene, it proved to be a cooking-related issue, and the fire department didn’t need to perform any ventilation because there wasn’t enough smoke in the home.
Training sessions were held on April 2 and 3 at a house in the 1300-block of Eighth Street. (For more on the training sessions, please see this week's edition of the Mercury).
Firefighters also assisted with the cenotaph service in honour of the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 7, and attended the vigil at the Estevan Leisure Centre’s multipurpose room on April 8 that paid tribute to the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.
