Yorkton Fire Protective Services responded to two fires nearly on its doorstep last week.
The more serious call was for a major blaze originating in the Heiser's Health & Fitness building on the corner of 1st Avenue and Smith Street, diagonally opposite the fire station. A report of smoke rising from that area came at around 10 pm on Thursday night.
"We responded, and luckily it was such a close property to the fire hall that we could do an interior search of the building," Deputy Chief John Whitaker told Yorkton This Week on Friday. "Unfortunately, we had to retreat due to smoke and fire projections on the second floor causing catastrophic failure of the roof."
The firefighters safely evacuated and fought the blaze until about 3:00 in the morning, when they managed to bring the flames under control. The rest of Friday was spent dousing small hotspots created by pockets of unburned material becoming exposed by the building's collapsing second floor.
The fire is now the focus of a joint investigation between Yorkton Fire Protective Services and the RCMP. No information on a possible cause has been released.
"Right now we can't speculate, because any kind of fire is very difficult to prove one way or another," said Whitaker.
Another fire on Wednesday morning was so close to the fire station that members responded before the first call came in. In that incident, materials in the back of a FirstOnSite Restoration van parked on 2nd Ave. caught fire.
"We had a member who was coming in for an afternoon coffee with the guys on his day off, and he noticed the smoke," explained Whitaker.
Firefighters sped across the street and had that fire out quickly.
Damage to affected property in both fires was extensive, but it was likely reduced by their proximity to the fire station.
"We were quite lucky in both cases," Whitaker noted.
