ESTEVAN — From Aug. 19-25, the Estevan Fire Rescue Service responded to multiple calls, including commercial fire alarms, grass fires, an accident and various storm-related incidents involving trees and power lines. No serious injuries or damage were reported.
Estevan Fire Chief Rick Davies provided a detailed update on the fire department's activities, emphasizing the need for discussions with the RM about the potential for fire bans if conditions worsen.
Last week, two grass fires occurred in the Estevan area. On Aug. 21 at about 3:20 a.m., crews responded to a grass fire occurring south of the city. Firefighters extinguished the fire. Minimal damage and no injuries were reported from that incident. Crews were on scene for about three hours.
The other grass fire occurred on Aug. 25 west of the city. Crews responded and successfully extinguished that fire, dedicating about four hours to the job. No damage or injuries were reported from the incident.
On Aug. 19, fire crews responded to a commercial fire alarm in northeast Estevan. Crews determined that there was no emergency occurring and the alarm was due to system issues. Another commercial fire alarm went off in the south-central area Aug. 20 at about 3:45 p.m. Firefighters quickly determined that it was caused by system maintenance that was going on at the property.
On Aug 21 at about 3:40 a.m., crews were dispatched to a commercial fire alarm in the northeast area. It was soon found that no emergency was occurring, and the alarm was due to system issues. Another commercial fire alarm went off the same day at about 4:30 p.m. in the central area, which was determined to be triggered by maintenance in the building.
Then the thunderstorm rolled through the area.
"A little bit later that same evening and into the next morning, during the storm, we responded to approximately five more incidents, all to do with trees and power line issues, all related to the storm. No serious damage or injuries were reported from any of those incidents," Davies said.
On Aug. 22 at about 2:30 p.m. crews responded to a commercial fire alarm in the south end of the city. The alarm was due to damage that had been done to the sprinkler system; no emergency was occurring.
Fire crews also were dispatched to a motorcycle accident in the northwest area of the city on Aug. 23 at about 11:45 p.m. Firefighters assisted at the scene.
"There were minor injuries reported from that incident, but they were dealt with by EMS," Davies said.
Two commercial fire alarms went off on Aug. 24 in the east and northeast areas of the city. In both cases, there were no emergencies.
On Aug. 25 at about 8 a.m., firefighters were dispatched to a residential carbon monoxide alarm in the south end. Crews responded and investigated but didn't pick up any CO readings. SaskEnergy also responded to the scene to further investigate. No further information was immediately available.
