ESTEVAN - A house in Estevan caught on fire on Thursday.
Firefighters were observing the Remembrance Day service in downtown Estevan, and shortly after the ceremony, they were called out to a structure fire occurring in the southwest area of Estevan. There was heavy smoke coming out of the building. The family safely evacuated the home and didn't suffer any injuries.
"There was extensive damage that was caused to the home. Crews were able to make an aggressive push into the house and keep the majority of the fire damage to the room of origin in the basement suite area," said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser. "There was a lot of smoke damage as well as heat damage to the remainder of the home."
A family cat didn't make it out of the fire. The family was placed in a local hotel, and the insurance company will be looking into the accident.
"We were able to effectively and successfully suppress the fire and extinguish the fire without any damage to any adjoining occupancies or residences," Feser said. "The cause of the fire is still under investigation. However, it doesn't appear to be incendiary. We're looking at some electrical items that were plugged in for extended periods of time in the one bedroom."
"So, just a gentle reminder that when you're looking at electrical components, you want to make sure that you're not overloading any circuits. You don't want to plug in power bars into power bars or into extension cords. You don't want to use any extension cords, or any phone charging cables, that are showing signs of damage, because those are all fairly good ignition sources, especially if it's around some fairly easy combustible items."
A GoFundMe campaign was started to support the family.
Firefighters spent over three hours at the location, and while they were still dealing with the house fire, another call came in. This time an ammonia alarm went off at the curling rink. Some firefighters broke away from the first call to attend to the second one.
Upon arrival, it was found that staff was doing some calibration of the ammonia detection system. There was no emergency occurring and firefighters returned to the house fire scene.
Feser thanked all first responders involved with the residential fire as well as some residents that stepped in to help.
"We thank all of our emergency services partners that were present. We had Estevan city police doing traffic control, we had Estevan EMS on standby for any injuries. We had the Canadian Red Cross members come in and assist the family. So everybody worked very well together, very well oiled machine. We thank some of the local individuals and neighbours. A couple of them went and brought coffee and doughnuts to the scene for the firefighters and the other emergency services staff there. So we can't thank them enough for keeping us up with some warm beverages and a little bit of sustenance," Feser said.
Earlier this week, Estevan fire crews were also called to a wildland fire occurring by the Shand Power Station. The call came in on Tuesday at about 2:30 p.m. The fire was approaching the SaskPower property.
When firefighters made it to the scene, the fire was still actively burning, and the SaskPower emergency response team was already working trying to contain it.
"We thank them for their assistance," Feser said. "Crews brought the fire under control and extinguished it without incident."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but Feser said it doesn't seem suspicious.
"It doesn't appear to be anything as far as incendiary or human as the cause of the fire. We're still working with them up there just to try to figure out what exactly had gone on."
Another call for service came in at about 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Fire crews were called to a report of a structure fire, occurring on Highway 18 west about a kilometre out of the city. It turned out that it was a controlled burn that was earlier reported to the provincial controlled burn line. From the viewpoint of the 911 caller, it looked like a shop was on fire, but in reality, the controlled burn was occurring behind the shop. With no emergency occurring, crews returned to the station.
On Thursday at about 7 p.m. fire crews also responded to a residential fire alarm occurring in the north-central area of Estevan. It was quickly found that it was a cooking-related incident, and there was not enough smoke remaining in the building to warrant any ventilation.
"The homeowner was reminded that they have to be the first point of contact for these particular types of calls. There were actually several calls to this particular location here in the last month, so they will be charged for a preventable false alarm fee, as per the city policy," Feser said.
"Usually, the homeowner or business will get one freebie, if you will, where they'll be informed of the corrective action to make sure that there's no premature dispatching of the fire department. And if the same thing occurs afterwards, they will be charged accordingly."
The second false call within one month results in a $300 fee, the third will cost $325 and all consecutive ones will result in $350 fees.
On Wednesday afternoon, the EFRS also distributed free rapid antigen tests. Feser said that it was really busy at the station, and they gave out all 360 kits they received from the province.
"We are currently out of stock. I don't know when we're going to be getting any more stock at this time. However, we'll make sure everybody's aware of when the next rollout will be or distribution day will be," Feser said.
