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Issue 42
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
ESTEVAN’S
SOURCE FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL NEWS
The fire destroyed a garage and two vehicles, but could have been worse if not for quick actions
The Estevan Fire Rescue Service was called to this fire on Isabelle Street on Thursday evening. Photo by Ana Villarreal
By Anastasiia Bykhovskaia and David Willberg A massive fire that consumed a garage and two vehicles parked in front of it Thursday night could have become even a greater tragedy if not for a conscious resident who followed the instincts, not the panic. It was getting late, and Ana Villarreal, who lives in the Isabelle Apartments with
her husband and son, was already sleeping whe n a weird banging noise woke her up. “(At) 10:45 p.m. I heard the first bang, I thought it was a gunshot… I then could hear cracking, so I thought it was ice-breaking on the streets,” recalled Ana, who is the production supervisor at the Estevan Mercury. People living down the street had cleaned ice in the middle of the night before, so she thought it was them
again and decided to ignore it, until after a few seconds later, when she heard more noises that were even louder. “I went to the window and I saw fire,” said Ana. “I saw a super big fire coming out of a house (garage). I went running into the living room, my husband was there, and I’m like, ‘There is a fire!’” She grabbed the phone and called 911. The call was made at about 10:50 p.m. regard-
ing a structure fire in the 600-block of Isabelle Street. Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service, Estevan Police Service and Estevan Emergency Medical Services responded, but Ana noticed that there was nobody outside when she was calling. “I started freaking out,” said Ana, explaining that she was worried that if there were people they might burn alive. “I grabbed my coat, my shoes and went running.”
She noted that she chose a safe route to get to the house door, staying away from the fire. But then there was no sign of anybody. “I started banging on the side of the house. And no one answered. The fire was (on the garage close to the house), but it looked like it was going onto the house. No one was waking up, so I thought I would break the window.” She kept banging on a
wall and yelling that there was a fire while looking for a rock when suddenly the owner came to the door. He sounded agitated. “And then I heard a guy saying ‘What’s going on?!’ Obviously, he didn’t know there was an actual fire,” said Ana. The homeowner later explained that they actually weren’t sleeping, but they were in the far end of the A2 » CAUSE
Southern Plains Co-op was affected by fuel shortage The blockade of the Co-op Refinery Complex in Regina by Unifor workers caused fuel shortages at co-op location from Alberta to western Ontario last week, and Estevan wasn’t immune from the problems. The co-op’s Fourth Street service station in Estevan ran out of regular gasoline on Thursday at noon. It wasn’t replenished for 24 hours, when two semi loads came in on Friday. “We had a competitor work with us and ship us for one load, and then Federated Co-op was able to send in another load,” said Southern Plains Co-op general manager Brian Enns. Diesel fuel and premium gasoline were still
2020 F-150
available at the location. Their Kensington Avenue location never ran out of product. “Our cardlock on Kensington also was never out of product,” said Enns. The cardlock on the truck bypass outside of Este- The Southern Plains Co-op’s Fourth Street service station van was out of gasoline from in Estevan was out of regular fuel for about 24 hours. Friday until Monday. we appreciate the patience couple more days. All of their other loca- of our customers during this Trucks have been movtions – Carlyle, Alameda, time frame.” ing in recent days, he said, Oxbow and Gainsborough – The Kensington Avenue and delivering fuel to locawere able to maintain prod- location was able to remain tions, but that could change. uct throughout this period. open because of good timing The co-op announced Enns said the customers for a shipment of fuel. on Feb. 5 that product rehandled the closure well. “They were running low strictions were in effect for “If they couldn’t buy on the weekend at Kensing- diesel at 300 litres and gasoregular, some were filling up ton, but received a load last line at 100 litres per day, per with premium, or they were night (Feb. 9),” said Enns. card at the co-op’s cardlock going from Fourth Street That shipment of fuel locations in Alberta, Sasto our Kensington Avenue should help the Kensington katchewan and Manitoba. location,” said Enns. “And location remain open for a Those restrictions remained
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in effect as of Monday evening. Among those affected by the fuel issues has been the province’s ambulance fleet. In an email to the Mercury, Lisa Thomson with the Saskatchewan Health Authority said its emergency medical services division has completed a scan of all SHA-owned and operated ambulance services as well as most contracted ambulance services in the province. Areas of concern have been identified and individual contingency plans are being developed or have already been developed, she said. A scan of the southeast indicates that three smaller, low-volume ambulance ser-
vices are heavily dependent upon co-op for their fuel supply. Of those three, two services can access fuel from another supplier in a neighbouring community and the other service can get gas from another fuel supplier in the same community during regular business hours. “Concurrentl y, the EMS manager and co-ordinators for the south east are tasked with seeking additional options in the event this labour dispute continues indefinitely,”Thomson wrote. The names of the three communities were not disclosed. SHA says it will continue to monitor the situation and work with emergency planners accordingly.
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