Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS) and other emergency crews were called to a two-vehicle collision on Highway 18 near Hirsch on Nov. 15.
Fire Chief Dale Feser said the collision was caused by heavy fog near the hamlet. The two vehicles were not drivable after the collision, but nobody was injured.
“We did arrive on scene and provide traffic control, as well as isolate the vehicles, returning them to zero energy,” said Feser.
The Estevan RCMP arrived on scene and the fire department returned to the city.
In other recent fire department news, the department was called on Nov. 12 to a collision involving a vehicle and a deer three kilometres east of the city on Highway 39. Crews arrived to see the vehicle suffered minimal damage and it was still drivable. The driver was not injured.
The scene was turned over to the RCMP.
Two calls came in on Nov. 14. The first was a flow switch initiation at a commercial property in south Estevan. A forklift accidentally struck a sprinkler line and caused it to burst.
“We were thankful to find that there weren’t any injuries whatsoever and no actual emergency occurring. We did assist with shutting off the branch lines for the system.”
They also dealt with a collision at the intersection of 13th Avenue and King Street. Fluids were leaking and one vehicle suffered significant front-end damage, but nobody was injured.
In addition to the collision near Hirsch, firefighters had to deal with two other calls on Nov. 15. The first was a commercial fire alarm in central Estevan, likely caused by a faulty detection device. Another commercial fire alarm occurred in the RM of Estevan to the east of the city. Upon entry, they found the audible alarms were not active, but an inspection of the fire alarm panel found an issue causing a signal to the fire department, but not alerting occupants.
On Nov. 17, they were called to a reported structure fire in south-central Estevan. They found the occupants were safely outside the home. No smoke or flame was encountered on the interior or exterior of the home, but there was a smell of smoke that could be attributed to the fact that furnace ventilation and heat runs had not been cleaned out for some time.
In the community, the fire department attended the Remembrance Day service hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion’s Estevan branch. A couple of firefighters laid a wreath at the cenotaph set up at the Estevan Comprehensive School’s gymnasium. Several other firefighters were in the audience as well.
The fire department also provided assistance Nov. 16 to the Estevan Kinsmen Club with unloading Christmas trees at the Canadian Tire for the annual Christmas tree lot sales, and the following day they read a few books to children at the Santa’s Library during the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation’s Festival of Trees.
They also had a training night on Nov. 12 in which the fire department’s new recruits went some unique training. They used extraction tools to move large blocks of wood around and play Jenga, and they stacked paper cups without causing damage. It helped them get used to the function and control of the tools.
“It led to a very entertaining and yet a very unique learning environment for our firefighters,” said Feser.
