The Estevan Fire Rescue Service will soon begin the process of moving into its new home.
The City of Estevan purchased Murray GM’s former building on 13th Avenue earlier this year to serve as the fire hall. Exterior painting should be completed this week, and then exterior signage will be installed.
There will also be an image with Sparky, the fire department’s mascot, on one of the parapets, and the department’s slogan of “Children don’t hear smoke, they hear smoke alarms.”
“It will be nice to get that message out to anybody passing by, and all of the taxpayers,” said fire Chief Dale Feser.
The signage is scheduled to be installed on Sept. 14 and 15.
Some electrical work still remains on the apparatus floor, and a transitional pavement pour is needed from the apparatus floor onto the front pavement, so that they are on the same grade. Feser said there is about a four-inch difference between the two.
Those tasks will need to happen this month.
Some work still has to be completed on the front office area and the indoor training room.
Feser is optimistic that the process of moving the fire department’s operations over to the building can begin this month. The fire department had previously moved some of its equipment, including a fire truck, which had been at city yard. The department needed to use city yard for some equipment because they didn’t have enough space for everything at city yard.
Non-essential equipment, such as the fire hose racking and a spare fire hose, will be the first equipment to move over. Eventually all the apparatus will be shifted.
“You may see the fire department responding out of there for a brief period before the offices are operational,” said Feser.
The timeline on when the fire department will start responding out of its new home is not yet known. That will be dependent on when all of the work is complete. But Feser is hoping that it will happen this month, and he is optimistic the offices could also be moved over by the end of the month as well.
There is a lot of equipment that needs to be moved over, but Feser hopes that if they have enough workers, it could be done on a weekend.
The firefighters are eager to start responding to calls out of the new building.
“I’ve been with the fire department here for over 15 years, and it’s something that’s been needed for a considerable amount of time, so to see it come to fruition, it’s just amazing to … be a part of it,” said Feser.
It has been a busy summer due to the dry conditions and the wildland fires, he said, as well as other emergencies the department has been called out to. So they haven’t had a lot of time to dedicate to sweat equity recently at the new fire hall building.
No red flags have come up during the renovation process.
“It’s not uncommon when you start tearing apart a few things with a building, that you might find some things that arise, but this has been a fairly smooth endeavour so far,” said Feser.
Feser said that once all of the work is complete and the fire department has moved into its new home, he will have a tally of how much work has been dedicated by the firefighters to prepare the building.
And thanks to the location and the size of the property, Feser predicted the new fire hall will serve the community well for years to come.
