Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service (EFRS) had another busy week last week, with a variety of calls to respond to.
Firefighters were called to a commercial alarm on Jan. 13 at a multi-family residence in Estevan. It was a building they had been called to earlier in the day due to a pressure leak in the sprinkler system.
Fire Chief Dale Feser said that in the case of the second call, a backup generator for the facility started up to run its normal test patterns, but a door was open to the mechanical maintenance area. During the process, some smoke migrated to the hallway, activating the fire alarm system. Ventilation was needed to clear smoke from the hallway.
“When a fire alarm system is going off and is active, it will be audible in the residence and occupancy itself, however there’s no guarantee that the message is getting through to the fire department,” said Feser.
The fire department would rather receive 10 calls for the same incident, than have everyone assume that the department was notified. One resident eventually did call 911 to alert the fire department about the alarm.
Firefighters were called to a residential fire alarm at a three-story multi-family residential building in north-central Estevan on Jan. 14. They found the fire alarms were active, and minor smoke was on the third floor due to a cooking-related incident. The fire alarm panel was reset and the scene was turned back to the residents.
The fire department was called to a residential fire alarm Jan. 15 in central Estevan at a multi-family, three-story building. The alarm was isolated to a suite, and was not for the entire building, but residents still called it in. The suite was vacant, and once firefighters gained access to the apartment, the source was found to be an aging detection device.
Later in the day, the EFRS was called to an alarm in east-central Estevan for a commercial cooking fire at a restaurant. The cooking suppression system did its job and kept the fire contained and had it extinguished before the fire department arrived.
“The staff did an exceptional job in making sure that everybody was safe and evacuated from the building,” said Feser. “No injuries were suffered as a result of this particular incident.”
Crews brought in thermal imaging cameras to make sure the area was cooled down before clearing the scene.
The following morning, they were called to a residential fire alarm due to a dead battery in a smoke alarm device. No fire conditions persisted.
Then on Jan. 17, they were called to a commercial fire alarm at 6 a.m. in a school in south-central Estevan. The fire alarm panel was active, indicating a flow switch initiation, which meant water could be flowing from a sprinkler head. A substantial amount of time was dedicated to investigating the cause. There wasn’t a leaking sprinkler head, but there was a minor pressure leak in the system, causing the alarm to trigger.
They were also called to a report of water flooding an apartment complex. Crews arrived on scene to assist and to ensure there wasn’t water or structural damage until the key holder arrived on scene.
