ESTEVAN - The Estevan Fire Rescue Service is continuing to monitor the fire danger index for the area.
With little precipitation and the higher temperatures the region has been experiencing lately, the fire danger index for most of the southeast was elevated from moderate to high as of Aug. 22, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
Acting Estevan Fire Chief Rick Davies said they are not talking fire bans yet, but the public should exercise caution.
"We are getting into that higher risk now with harvest swinging into full effect," Davies said. "[Fire bans] haven't been on our radar at all yet … And that's something we will closely monitor. If dangers get to be extremely high and we start running quite a few calls, that's when we'll go down that road to determine if we should be doing that or not. But we're definitely not in that situation as of yet."
In the meantime, the EFRS was busy with a couple of alarms going off in the community and an outdoor fire towards the end of the last week.
On Aug. 21 at 8:30 a.m. fire crews were dispatched to a small outdoor fire on the south end of the city.
"When crews arrived, they determined that there was a small fire on the residential structure's deck. The fire had already been put out by the homeowner. So crews just inspected to make sure that the fire was 100 per cent extinguished, and returned to the station," Davies said.
On Aug. 19 just before 6 p.m. crews were dispatched to a residential fire alarm on the south end of the city. It appeared to be a cooking-related incident and the fire department's assistance was not required.
A commercial fire alarm went off on Aug. 20 at about 7 p.m. on the west side of the city. Firefighters responded and determined that a malfunctioning alarm system triggered the alarm, so their help wasn't required.
