While many spent the long weekend relaxing at the lake, members of Humboldt's emergency services were kept hopping with a series of strange weekend calls.The first came in at 3:30 a.m. on July 31, reporting an RV on fire on the 700 block of 15th St. The RV, parked on the street, had exploded into flame while a person was inside. The person managed to get out before emergency crews arrived, but was taken to hospital in Saskatoon by Humboldt and District Ambulance Service, suffering from severe injuries.The RV was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters with the Humboldt Fire Department arrived. Though the fire was fast-moving and extremely hot, fire crews were able to quickly snuff out the flames. However, the violent blaze destroyed most of the vehicle.The RCMP investigation into what happened is still underway, and has not ruled out foul play. But a preliminary investigation by Fire Chief Norbert LeBlanc points to a propane leak as the cause of the explosion.Reports indicate that the explosion occurred when the occupant of the RV got up to smoke a cigarette. LeBlanc believes that propane got inside the RV, so when the man lit a flame, it exploded.The explosion actually blew out the front window of the RV.Most campers have gas detectors, he noted, but this older model - he believes it was a 1969 model - either didn't have one, or didn't have one that worked. The next call came in at around 7:30 p.m. on August 1 as a garage on fire at 1021 14th St.Again, this fire is still under investigation, but it is believed that a the cord of adeep freeze, moved into the garage with many of the owners' possessions after their basement flooded this spring, started an electrical fire in the building.The fire crawled up the wall behind the deep freeze, then got into the attic of the garage.Firefighters with the Humboldt Fire Department were forced to cut holes in the roof of the garage in order to get the fire out.It didn't take them long to extinguish the flames, and they were back at the fire hall by just over an hour later. The third incident occurred at the new Canalta hotel construction site on the west side of Humboldt at 9:40 a.m. on August 2.Crews were preparing to stucco and two people were in a bucket on the boom of a crane, reported LeBlanc. However, the crane tipped and the bucket fell to the ground, trapping the two people inside. Fire crews stabilized the crane with their rescue unit, then helped extricate the people from the bucket, working alongside Humboldt and District Ambulance Service crews.The two people were injured, but the extent of their injuries is unknown at this time.
