NIPAWIN 鈥� Dave Balding, Nipawin鈥檚 fire chief, said he would like to encourage the community to contact the fire department proactively, before a situation grows larger and uncontrollable.
鈥淪ometimes the public is a little reluctant to call, and I would encourage everyone to call 9-1-1 proactively,鈥� Balding said. 鈥淲e鈥檇 rather come to an event that鈥檚 small than something that becomes [a larger incident].鈥�
An example Balding gave was a chimney fire, such as the one crews responded to on Dec. 4 in the community.
鈥淭hat fire could have gone either way, and the homeowner was proactive in calling,鈥� he said. 鈥淔olks here were trained in mitigating those circumstances, and at the end of the day it was a happy ending for everyone.鈥�
For the month of December, the department responded to two motor vehicle collisions which took place on Dec. 2 and Dec. 16, the chimney fire on Dec. 4, and a number of alarm activated calls 鈥� including a report of a natural gas leak in town on Dec. 28.
Balding said the natural gas leak was mitigated successfully with SaskEnergy taking over the scene.
鈥淲e鈥檙e equipped with gas detectors and protocols to evacuate the premises,鈥� Balding said. 鈥淥ne of the default protocols is to contact SaskEnergy who quickly responded and looked after the situation.鈥�
