This past week for the Estevan Fire Rescue Service included a good reminder of the importance of public vigilance when it comes to ammonia.
Wednesday at 7 p.m., firefighters were called to the Power Dodge Ice Centre when parents smelled ammonia near the ice surface, said Fire Chief Dale Feser.
“They were expressing concerns about the smell of ammonia so crews arrived on scene, and established command and control,” Feser said. “They did an atmosphere assessment and evaluation and it was found that there was only three parts per million of ammonia concentration inside the arena.”
Crews worked on the ice plant and were monitoring as well. Feser said there would need to be readings of 24 parts per million or greater to evacuate a building.
“One thing about ammonia gas is it’s detectable in very low concentrations,” Feser said. “Yes, the parents did do the right thing seeing as they thought there could be an emergency occurring however crews were able to quickly deem that there was still a safe environment.”
Over the last week, they were busy with hosting the Hundred Kids Club at the Fire Hall in their training room Monday.
Firefighters were also at the stuff-the-truck event at Power Dodge, Murray GM and Your Toy Store And More with the Angel Tree Tuesday and Thursday had their toy drive event at Canadian Tire with the RCMP.
Friday at 12:30 p.m., crews were called to an elevator rescue in the south-central area of the city. Just prior to their arrival, the elevator got back into a usable state and the person was able to free themselves from the elevator.
Saturday at 10:30 a.m., a vehicle hit a pedestrian in the 900-block of Souris Ave. N.
Crews arrived in the parking lot of an establishment to find a pedestrian was struck at low speed, Feser said.
“As a result, this person was being treated by EMS ambulance on scene and there was no other further action needed by the fire department,” Feser said.
Saturday, from 12-6 p.m. they continued their toy drive for Angel Tree at Canadian Tire. Feser said they were able to meet all of their benchmarks for the campaign.
“It was amazing just to see parents bringing in children just to buy a toy, expressly for this particular purpose,” said Feser. “They’re really sending a great message and setting really good role models for their kids in making sure the less fortunate are taken care of.”
