Just over a year ago, a fire swept through the town office and fire hall in Radville. The building was a total loss, and many of the items inside it, including two fire trucks, files, infrastructure equipment and more.
Right after the fire, the town took stock of the situation, and in a fashion you would expect from those living in Saskatchewan, neighbouring towns and rural municipalities did what they could to help out. The business of the town office would be handled in the cold storage building, Work started on planning a new town office and fire hall, and the construction got underway earlier this year.
Rene Bourassa is the mayor of Radville. He explained they have been doing what they can to get the building up, and the items inside it replaced. However, there is still a lot of work to do, and a lot of things to be taken care of.
“The big thing is the equipment and the stock,” he told Discover Weyburn. “All our water, plumbing and all the supplies were all in the old shop, and how do you put a price on all that stuff? We had inventory, but it’s going to take a while to replace all that, and of course, insurance, you can only go so far.”
When the fire happened, Bourassa stated they wouldn’t be doing any fundraising in the town, not wanting to put the burden of replacing the facility on the taxpayers of the town. Instead, they have relied on insurance and the help of other municipalities. They are making plans, though, in case insurance doesn’t cover everything.
“We tentatively set up for a loan, but hopefully, we can trim it up and come close to building it for what they’re going to give us,” Bourassa said.
Donations have also come from not just the immediate area, but across the province. K+S Potash donated a fire trick in March to the Radville Laurier Volunteer Fire Department, to replace at least one of the two lost in the fire. The furniture for the new town office was donated by SaskPower, and the R.M. of Weyburn, which has recently moved into a new location of its own, donated their older office equipment to the town of Radville, to help replace what was lost in the fire.
With the construction well underway, it is expected the new town office and fire hall in Radville will open in June of next year.
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