Estevan firefighters responded to two emergencies early this week.
On Monday at about 1:30 p.m. the fire crews were called to the report of a motor vehicle fire that occurred on Highway 39 west, about five kilometres east of Macoun. The vehicle was a camper.
The call came from the construction zone, so with the assistance of the RCMP providing additional traffic control, fire crews made it to the location.
“When they arrived on the scene, they found that the lone female occupant of the vehicle has escaped without injuries. She didn’t suffer from any smoke inhalation; the fire was still relatively small at this time,” said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser.
The fire was located in the engine compartment but was progressing into the cabin.
“The crews were able to keep it at bay and prevent it from spreading inside the camper van,” said Feser. “There are always some additional hazards when we are responding to this type of engine. There is propane on board as well for the cooking and heating appliances. So we quickly isolated the hose and were able to extinguish the fire.”
Feser added the driver was from out of province, and the contents of the camper were all she had.
“We were very happy to be able to put out the fire and to actually keep it from destroying her personal belongings and contents. She was very grateful for that,” said Feser.
The scene was then turned over to the RCMP. A tow truck had to recover the vehicle, and the RCMP assisted the driver with finding a place to stay until she would figure out what was going to happen with the vehicle insurance.
The next day at 2:30 p.m., fire crews were called out to a combine and a subsequent field fire occurring southwest of the city in the Outram area.
“Crews arrived on scene to find a fully engulfed combine that was located on the land, as well as ground fire,” said Feser.
The first unit to arrive was assigned to suppress the combine fire, and all other units were tasked with the extinguishment of the ground fire.
“This was a fairly unique situation, as the farmers and producers in this particular area have a really, really good sense of community and quite honestly I can’t thank them enough for assisting in suppressing this fire,” said Feser.
He added that they have a text group in the area, and when an emergency occurred and a message was sent out, they all left what they were doing and rushed to the scene with tractors, double-discers and water trucks to ensure that the fire didn’t spread.
“They are such a huge help for us,” said Feser. “That local area really comes together and really has a good sense of community, and they are helping each other out any chance that they get.”
After the investigation, it was found that the fire occurred because of a mechanical failure, in which the hydraulic steering line broke and hot oil was spraying over other hot parts, which started on fire and spread over to the rest of the combine.
“No matter how prepared or how proactive you are, which these guys out there and farmers out there really are proactive, a fire can still get away. And it was key for them to jump at the action and call 911 right away so we were alerted and could get out there in a timely manner.”
The combine was a total loss. Nobody was injured as a result of the fire.
Jason LeBlanc, whose daughter was operating the combine, noted that in less than 30 seconds from when his hired hand, Jake Fast, spotted the first little bit of smoke in the field, the combine was destroyed.
LeBlanc’s daughter was running her machine like normal when the bearing failed.
“We quickly told her on the radio to jump out and it was instantly engulfed.”
LeBlanc said they are very fortunate to live in this community, and it showed in the quick response from the farmers and the fire departments from Estevan and Torquay.
