At the request of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) yesterday, the Estevan Fire Rescue (EFR) is sending four firefighters and one fire engine to a wildfire raging up north.
Near the end of the Estevan City Council Meeting on July 14, Councillor Kirsten Walliser called upon Deputy Fire Chief Kyle Luc to share the news with the rest of Council, as well as the community.
"Last night (July 13), we did receive a phone call from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency regarding equipment and manpower to be sent up north if it was possible. So, between Rick [Davies, the fire chief] and myself, we reached out to all our guys. We did manage to come up with a crew of four people. They did deploy this morning (July 14). They are off to the community 950 kilometres north of here. We are doing structural protection."
The four firefighters have been deployed to the hamlet of Patuanak, whose facing a wildfire that's grown to more than 150,000 hectares. EFR is sending Lt. Justin Herod and firefighters Austin Dovell, Nolan LaCoste, and Colby Wainman to assist the SPSA in their efforts to stabilize the wildfire.
Luc shared that they'll be up north for 12 days. The current crew that's currently at Patuanak will be replaced by another four EFR firefighters in six days.
He reassured the Council that EFR will still have enough manpower and equipment to handle fires in the city, as well as the RM. "We still have adequate manpower in town at any given time. We could have a strain on manpower, as we are a paid-per-call fire department. So, we don't know who's working or who's out of town. It's hard for us anytime there's a call, but we have a dedicated group of firefighters here, so they're always ready to answer the call."
"If you think about it, we are pretty lucky where we are sitting geographically. We don't have to deal with this, and I just kind of thought, you know, if it was here, we want people coming to help us. So, glad that we return the favour."
According to the latest update from the SPSA, 49 wildfires are burning in the province right now. Four are contained, 11 are not contained, 18 are ongoing assessments, and 16 are listed as protecting values.