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Estevan Fire Rescue Service prepares its new location

Local residents may notice an increase in activity around 13th Avenue, as Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS) prepares to move into its new location.
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Local residents may notice an increase in activity around 13th Avenue, as Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS) prepares to move into its new location.

“What we’re doing at the new fire station location is all the firefighters have been coming in and donating a lot of their time to do a lot of the preparation work for the contractors to come in and do the large ticket items if you will,” said Fire Chief Dale Feser.

“We’re going for a complete open floor concept, so we’ve been busy doing the demolition portion and taking all the non-essential stuff such as electrical wiring, plumbing and walls—by doing that it’s allowing us to salvage a lot of the wiring, conduit and 2x4 studding…that we’re going to repurpose to construction on some of the other areas in the fire hall.”

He added the group has been fortunate to repurpose these materials because it will ease some of the budgetary costs.

EFRS members have been at it for roughly three weeks, working three hours a night every Monday, with no less than 12 members showing up to pitch in each time.

Other tasks included removing tile and building sub-walls, with the group trying to get it done fast because they’re anxious to get into the new location.

“Everybody’s excited. We’ve had a pretty good buy in from a good majority of our firefighters on staff here,” Feser said.

“This is going to be our home for quite some time and I think that’s very reflective with the amount of donated work time they’ve been putting in place to get this done.”

After the firefighters are finished with the preparation work, contractors will come and do concrete work, the door company will install overhead doors and tinsmiths will remove some of the sheathing on the outside of the building.

Fencing contractors will also put up fencing around the new training facility, which is particularly noteworthy, Feser pointed out, because it will allow staff to train onsite, instead of in the busy city streets.

The need for a new location came after EFRS started to evolve and take on additional response tasks, requiring more space for its operation.

“We definitely have to expand and grow and I think everybody’s going to be quite amazed that, even though we’re moving into a new facility, the place is going to be filled right up just by the current apparatus response vehicles we have in place, so it’s going to be a welcome new home for the fire department,” said Feser.

With its current situation, EFRS has a lot of seasonal equipment and has to store some of the gear on city property, but this won’t be a concern after it moves into it’s new more spacious digs.

The new building is also in a more central spot of the city, which will benefit the safety of Energy City residents.

Feser said they should be up and running on 13th Avenue by late August or early September.