Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Issue 18
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Hang in there Tyson Salmon of Stonewall, Man., takes a ride on a bull Saturday afternoon at the CCA Estevan Rodeo. For more on the rodeo, see page A11. Photo by Corey Atkinson
Fire department called to large grass fire By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
The Estevan Fire Rescue Service has been called to a number of grass fires this summer, thanks to the dry conditions in the area, but a fire they faced last week southwest of city limits was likely the toughest yet. Firefighters were called to the fire at 3:43 p.m. on Aug. 29. When firefighters arrived at the scene, fire Chief Dale Feser said they found the fire encompassed an area larger than a football field. It spread quickly thanks to the high heat and strong northerly winds that day, as well as the dry vegetation. “That actually contributed to the spread of the fire quite substantially,” said Feser. The fire started on an acreage that was starting to be developed. A contractor on the site was cutting rebar for construction, and sparks generated ignited the ground vegetation and
A large grass fire on Aug. 29 required the attention of the fire departments in Estevan and Bienfait. Photo by Brian Zinchuk started the fire. Two acreages to the south of the site were soon threatened by the fire. “The crews were on the scene within 10 minutes of notification,” said Feser. “That’s how fast the fire spread.” One of the acreages faced a significant threat from the fire. “It was already at the fence line,” Feser said. “So we needed to get some crews in place immediately, and get some big water on
the fire to knock it down, and prevent it from destroying any property.” Once the two acreages were safe from the flames, the firefighters turned their attention to extinguishing the fire. About two hours after being called to the scene, some of the firefighters were experiencing fatigue and heat exhaustion, Feser said, so the fire department issued a mutual aid call to the Bienfait Fire Department. The help was greatly
appreciated, Feser said. “They contributed to the extinguishment of the fire, as well as preventing it from spreading any further,” said Feser. Other emergency crews also assisted, with the RCMP providing traffic control and keeping people away from the scene. Estevan Emergency Medical Services tended to a couple of the firefighters with heat exhaustion and breathing issues. “Within 20 minutes of
their rehab, they were back at it again,” said Feser. Meanwhile, farmers and ranchers provided assistance at the acreage where the fire started, preventing bales from catching fire. “Everybody just really pulled together and helped each other. It was nice to see everybody come out like that and lend a helping hand,” said Feser. Firefighters spent nearly five hours at the scene, and then another 90 minutes washing the trucks, hoses
and gear, and handling other cleanup duties. It was just before 10 p.m. when they left the fire hall for the night. Feser noted 111 person hours were dedicated to the fire. Despite the threat caused by the fire, none of the homes, none of them were damaged by the fire. One of the acreage owners had a small fire guard in place, which stalled the fire enough for fire crews to get in and suppress the flames. A2 » EIGHT
Committee announces a hiatus after meeting By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
The Time to Twin Highways 39 and 6 committee has decided to take a hiatus from its lobbying efforts, following a meeting with representatives of the provincial government Friday in Regina. Committee co-chairs Marge Young and Lauralie Ireland, as well as committee members, sat down with David Marit, the minister of highways and infrastructure, as well as Estevan MLA Lori Carr
and representatives of the highways ministry. Young said that early on in their presentation, they were told by Marit that the provincial government had already decided it would proceed with passing lanes instead of twinning for the 200-kilometre stretch of highways from Estevan to Regina. The committee did get to ask questions to the ministry, and the meeting went about 90 minutes, which was about 30 minutes longer than expected. “Anything to do with
twinning was on deaf ears,” Young said in an interview with the Mercury. Marit said he cut the committee’s presentation short because the members were presenting information he already had, including the statements of previous ministers. “In essence of time, the discussion should be about them making their point on why the highway should be twinned, and us making our point that we want to make Highway 39 a much safer highway as soon as possible,” said
Marit. “And the way that we can do that is with the passing lanes.” Still, he thought it was a good meeting, and he believes both sides have a better idea of their respective stances. “We had some good, frank discussion,” said Marit. “We stated our position on where we wanted to go as soon as possible. They even talked about twinning and staging it over time, and they talked about other areas in the province where we twinned, and it took a lot
of time.” Young said that Marit cited safety and cost as the reasons for proceeding with passing lanes, and she added that he explained how passing lanes have proven to be effective elsewhere in the province. “We were disappointed that we were not allowed to present our case for twinning,” said Young. “We felt that since the Saskatchewan government began the Regina bypass, all money has gone to that, even though for years we had been told that twin-
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ning is the best option for Highways 39 and 6.” Based on the information presented at the meeting, Young said the committee believes it’s time to take a break from its lobbying efforts. Carr noted that it would cost $20 million $25 million to twin 10 kilometres of highway in today’s costs. The 15 sets of passing lanes proposed from Estevan to Regina would cost much less. “So if we twin all the way from here to Regina, A2 » EDUCATION
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