ESTEVAN - The latest blizzard and winter storm, still covering the southeast with snow, created a lot of work for road crews and others, but fortunately not for the fire department.
Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser thanked the community for listening to warnings, preparing and staying home during the storm. Feser said while the Estevan Fire Rescue Service experienced a surge in calls, as of Thursday morning, they weren't storm-related.
"A lot of people heeded the warnings and were able to stock up on supplies and stay home. That's always a good thing," Feser said.
Nevertheless, firefighters had six calls to respond to in under 48 hours.
Tuesday at about 3:30 p.m., fire crews were called to a residential fire alarm occurring in south-central Estevan. It was a cooking-related incident, and there wasn't enough smoke to warrant any ventilation efforts, Feser said.
At the same time, another call for service came in, requiring firefighters to attend to a stove fire, which also occurred in south-central Estevan. Units were split up to attend both locations at the same time. In the second case, the stove fire self-extinguished. Feser noted that there was a lot of residue and grease build-up in the stove, which enflamed.
"Good reminder to have everybody check the ovens and make sure that cooking surfaces remain clean. That'll prevent any accidental fires from occurring," Feser said.
At about 7:30 p.m. on the same day, fire crews responded to smoke/carbon monoxide alarms, which were going off in a residence in south Estevan. No CO or heat signatures were found in the house. The detection devices were inspected, and one of the pieces appeared faulty and was setting off the whole home.
At 3 a.m. on Wednesday another CO alarm went off, this time in the north-central area of the city. The family had safely evacuated the home upon firefighters' arrival, and no one was experiencing any symptoms of CO poisoning. Firefighters entered and tested the building, but no CO was found, and a faulty detection device was to blame.
At about 8:30 a.m., a commercial fire alarm occurred in the south-central area of Estevan in an eight-storey complex.
"We found that there were detection devices that were going off in the garbage, waste bin collection shoots. The scene was assessed on all the floors and it was found that due to the incoming storm, there was a lot of wind and snow that was coming in on the eighth floor to the mechanical maintenance room and it was actually shorting out these devices," Feser said.
"Thankfully there was no fire occurring. All the residents did an excellent job mustering down into the evacuation area to be accounted for. And after we found that there were no fire conditions, they were allowed to return to the suites."
Another CO alarm went off at about 8:30 p.m. in southeast Estevan. The family had evacuated the building upon firefighters' arrival. No CO was found in the building, and it was concluded that it was another malfunctioning detection device.
The public is asked to make sure that their CO and smoke alarms are up to date. The devices have a 10-year lifespan, which starts from the date of manufacturing noted on the back of the device. Once they expire that need to be replaced.
Feser also pointed out that with high levels of snow, it's crucial to keep vents free and clear for safety reasons.
"We are very concerned this time with the accumulations of snow on two things. The first and most important would be making sure that all of the heating and venting is actually free and clear of any snow or ice blockages. It is especially important when we have new energy-efficient furnaces with the horizontal venting that comes out low with the house. Please make sure that you're shovelling snow away and knocking down any ice," Feser said.
"A very similar thing can happen on the roofs with your conventional older-style furnaces with vertical venting going through the roof. You want to make sure that it is free and clear of all of that snow and accumulation to allow the fire gases to safely escape the home and safely operate the gas-fired appliances."
Feser also thanked the city crews for working tirelessly since the beginning of the snowstorm not only clearing the city but also ensuring access to the fire station. But he also asked the public to assist the fire department and the city crews in keeping fire hydrants around Estevan accessible.
"We can't thank Norm Mack and his roads and drainage crew enough for the amazing job that they had done in keeping the streets and roadways clear and open," Feser said.
"With large accumulations of snow, we require access to fire hydrants. So, if we could have the citizens out there to help them to help us, that would cut down the time it takes to make a connection to a fire hydrant. We're asking everybody to shovel at least a three-foot radius around the fire hydrants, so that way, we can find them quickly and make a quick connection in the event of a working structure fire."
