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Issue 50
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
ESTEVAN’S
SOURCE FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL NEWS
Explosions from workplace incident rocked Estevan By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
A workplace incident in southeast Estevan Monday morning resulted in fires, explosions and a long day for local first responders. Members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service were notified just before 10 a.m. of a titanium tank fire at the Regens Metals yard on Perkins Street. The fire department, the Estevan Police Service, Estevan RCMP, Estevan Emergency Medical Services, Occupational Health and Safety officials and conservation officers were dispatched. When they arrived on the scene, the fire was occurring, and they learned that explosions had occurred shortly before they arrived. They also learned there were several unaccounted for workers at the scene. Those employees were found at the east end of the property, so they were told to go to the muster site and report. “During this process, one worker was observed that he looked like he had suffered some burns to the face area, so he was directed to go to EMS,” said Fire Chief Dale Feser. The individual was
Fires and explosions at a business in southeast Estevan on Monday forced the closure of a portion of Perkins Street. transported to hospital for assessment and treatment, and was released about an hour later. None of the other workers were injured, Feser said. The fire chief pointed out their first priority was safety for all involved, and making sure everyone is accounted for. With the explosions, it created unknown hazards at the building, including concerns of whether another explosion would occur, or if there were compressed gas cylinders in close proximity that might explode. “We have to make sure that adequate safety measures are taken into consideration, and there is adequate water for suppression efforts,” he said.
It was a fortunate situation that just one person suffered minor injuries. “I don’t think we could have asked for a better situation considering the events that unfolded this morning,” said Feser. Connor Barnstable, who works at Precision Machining less than 200 metres to the west of Regens Metals, filmed two of the explosions that occurred before fire crews arrived and posted them to his Facebook page. As of Tuesday morning, it had been shared more than 4,500 times. He said one of his managers saw smoke and flames coming from the Regens building, so Barnstable stopped to take a look. “I saw a bunch of smoke
coming from over the top of the one building,” said Barnstable. He went outside to see if the fire was growing. He wasn’t expecting to see explosions, but after he started filming, two big ones occurred that everybody felt. “It knocked a bunch of stuff off our walls in our shop,” said Barnstable. “It shook our shop pretty good twice or three times.” There had also been a smaller explosion before he started filming. Emergency crews had already been called when the explosions occurred, he said. Feser noted the Regens Metals building suffered very minimal damage, as the explosion and fire occurred at
the exterior of the building. But an unoccupied building to the north suffered some significant damage. “Part of the explosion had a rain-down effect of burning materials, which started some property on fire,” said Feser. At one point there were three major fires going: one at the explosion site, one at the unoccupied building and a third at a vehicle. A worker moved the vehicle from inside the fence compound to park it on the exterior. The cause of the fire and explosions is still under investigation, and several agencies are involved. The Ministry of Environment was at the scene because the building was close to a drainage ditch, and
they want to ensure nothing was contaminated and entering the drainage system. “We didn’t have to do too much damming and diking. It was contained to the property itself and saturated into the ground,” said Feser. Occupational Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation have been checking to see if there are any unsafe work acts that contributed to the explosion and fire. “We know that there was a hot works that was occurring that set some materials on fire,” said Feser. The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency came down as well to assist with the investigation. The fires and explosions resulted in a cloud of smoke that blanketed much of Estevan for about an hour Monday morning. The explosion was heard and felt by much of the city, including those on the west edge of the community, several kilometres away. A portion of Perkins Street east of Kensington Avenue was closed for several hours while emergency crews responded to the fires. The firefighters didn’t return to the fire hall until around 4:30 p.m. Monday.
Flash mob shows gratitude to healthcare workers By Ana Bykhovskaia abykhovskaia@estevanmercury.ca
People of different ages and different walks of life gathered by St. Joseph’s Hospital Thursday night. At 7 p.m., over a dozen vehicles put their hazard lights on and started slowly circulating around the parking lot, led by Estevan Police Service vehicles. This flash mob was organized by a community member to thank the health care workers for everything they do during these times. “At this time, we all have got to come together and support each other! Say thanks to every essential worker you encounter,” said Trisha English, who organized the flash mob, in her original Facebook post that was published March 31. English said that the support she received from the post was overwhelming
and she shed some tears a few times during the event. “I can’t believe that so much support came from just a Facebook post,” said English. “I just want to shout out to everybody that showed up, everybody that has shown their support to me and to all the healthcare workers, frontliners and all essential service workers … And a big shot-out to the Estevan police for helping. It really made me happy.” Police officers participating in the flash mob helped to organize people who came to show their appreciation. Estevan Police Chief Paul Ladouceur said they know what it takes to be at the frontlines, and for them it was important to be there and recognize others. “People who organized it asked us if we wanted to participate, and we certainly were happy to do that … There is a
Trisha English, who organized the flash mob was leasing the group along with the EPS vehicle. Photo by Anastasiia Bykhovskaia huge strain on these frontline workers during these times. And it’s important to recognize that these are people that are dealing directly with this disease … It just exemplifies the fact that there are so many heroes through this whole crisis,” said Ladouceur. Police vehicles put their lights on and also quickly turned the sirens on a couple
of times. And while it made the activity a bit brighter, since the sirens might have alarmed some of the hospital residents, Ladouceur clarified that they only went on due to miscommunication and apologized for the mistake. During the 15-minute flash mob, all participants stayed in their vehicles to
ensure that all health safety measures were in place. After the event, a few people messaged English to thank her for the activity she organized and for all the support. “What I can only reply to that is ‘No, thank you!’ All I did was post a post on Facebook and show up, show my support there to the ones
that are frontlining this,” said English. Staff at the hospital was also grateful for the support coming from the community. “I know the staff were very excited about it. It was a really nice salute to our staff. It just shows that the community, Estevan is very strong. And people just want to make A2 » MORE
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