Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service didn’t have much time to rest on Aug. 21.
Firefighters spent four hours at a grass fire northeast of the city, near the Estevan Regional Airport. The fire did not pose a threat to the airport, nor did it interrupt airport operations.
It was also the first test of their new wildland firefighting unit, and Fire Chief Dale Feser said the unit proved to be an asset in fighting the fire.
The firefighters didn’t have much time to rest before their Tuesday night training session.
“It made for a pretty long day … considering that they were out for approximately four hours of battling that wildland fire, and then another three hours (of training), so they had about an hour and a half off,” said Feser. “Just enough time to go home, shower, eat and then come back to the fire station for training.”
The training session saw firefighters conduct pump operations of all of their units, with a focus on aerial skills.
“A lot of our new members stayed back and we did structural search and rescue for large commercial occupancies, so that way they’re aware of the different procedures that they need to take into consideration when they’re searching larger … buildings,” said Feser.
They’re looking hazards they may encounter, such as entanglement from wiring, vehicles in bays, restricted access and more.
“It was a very well run drill, and the firefighters did very, very well,” said Feser. “They’re able to perform a lot of the skillsets that we wanted to see.”
Earlier in the day, Feser and Deputy Fire Chief Rick Davies were at the Federated Co-op bulk fuel site north of the city for a review for emergency response procedures.
Firefighters were also called to a fire alarm in a hotel in east Estevan on Aug. 24. Once crews arrived, there wasn’t a visible smoke or flame that was encountered in the exterior of the building. But they encountered a medium haze of smoke that stretched from the front entrance lobby to the east wing.
After entering the affected suite, firefighters found that unattended cooking was the cause of the alarm.
“Crews did spend approximately 45 minutes there, ventilating to extricate all of the smoke … out of the building,” said Feser.
The fire department also attended a couple of community events on the weekend. The first was the program at the Estevan Motor Speedway. Feser said there weren’t any notable incidents for the firefighters.
The other was the Alice Cooper concert on Aug. 26. Feser was on hand that afternoon for a fire safety walkthroughs and inspections of the fireworks and pyrotechnics.
“The crew that was there, shooting the show, did an absolutely amazing job,” said Feser.
The crew for the concert was top-notch, and Feser said it was a great job.
