ESTEVAN - Estevan firefighters were called to a shop fire on Sunday, and also responded to other calls last week.
The most significant call for service came in at about 6 p.m. on Sunday. A shop fire was occurring in the southeast area of the city. Once on scene, firefighters found that an excavator caught on fire inside the shop, and the fire was spreading over to the building.
"The excavator piece of equipment that was parked inside the shop had started a fire that was quickly spreading to the structure itself. We were able to quickly knock down the fire and spent some time to make sure no hotspots or extensions have occurred from the fire. There was estension up into the attic space, so we had to use aerial tracking piercing nozzles to ensure the fire is completely extinguished in some of the concealed void spaces there," said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser.
The operation took about 3 1/2 hours. There were no injuries, and everyone was accounted for. The building did suffer significant damage.
"The cause of the fire is currently still being investigated, however, steering in the direction of possible equipment mechanical failure of the track hoe that was inside the shop itself," Feser said.
"We want to extend a huge thank you to our emergency services partners. The Estevan city police did a tremendous job in traffic control and ensuring that the water supply lines from the hydrants to the trucks were not going to be damaged or run over while operational. So we want to give a shout-out to them. And of course, the company reps there that provide us with the information that nobody was trapped, and making sure that once the scene was turned back over to them, they're going to provide a fire watch just to ensure no rekindle was going to occur."
On Sunday at about 1:30 p.m., crews were alerted to a commercial fire alarm occurring in central Estevan. The report was quickly called in and it was confirmed to be a false alarm, so fire crews stood down and returned to the station.
The EFRS is also a part of a donation drive to help people who have been impacted by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Feser said they see donations coming in, and the first shipment of items is scheduled for March 11. They will be accepting donations after that as well.
The list of needed items includes non-perishable foods, warm clothes and blankets, first-aid kits and other medications and toiletries.
"The fire station is one of the many points for drop off so you can drop off whatever donations and we will collect those. And then the organization will pick those up and send them off to Regina and then ship them off to Ukraine to distribute," Feser said.
Other locations are No Frills Estevan, the Polish Kitchen and Senchuk Ford.
