Any call for the Estevan Fire Department could potentially be a serious one, but some are more serious and more memorable than others. A decade of calls left a few that stood out in the mind of Fire Chief Dale Feser.

Feser's most memorable crazy call of 2019 was also one of the last major calls of the decade, a vehicle fire on the highway with about two months to go in 2019. He said his dispatchers told them there was a two-vehicle collision, but by the time he and his crew got there, a third vehicle had unwittingly joined the fracas. 

"We had some terrible driving conditions due to fog," Feser recalled. "When we arrived on scene to find three highway tractor-trailers blocking off the entire highway, one of which was fully engulfed in fire with one confirmed entrapped individual, that kind of changes the whole dynamic quite quickly, not to mention the possibility of hazardous materials on board these transport trucks." 

As scary as the scene could have been, Feser and his crews were able to get the trapped individual out with only minor injuries. They also extinguished the blaze and prevented any other vehicles from getting tangled up in the crash. 

"Thank goodness everything went great," Feser said. "Every last emergency service that attended the scene worked very well as a team blocking off traffic. We were able to locate the individual trapped in one of the tractor units. He was not in the one engulfed in fire so we were able to safely extricate him and treat him for some minor injuries, and quickly bring the fire under control."

Like much of the rest of Estevan, Feser remembers the 2011 flood as one of the biggest moments of the decade. "The flooding events had a huge impact on the city and emergency services as a whole. The way we were able to come together with the EMO committees and be able to successfully mitigate and negotiate through that with the province, spoke volumes about the level of training and commitment we have with in the community here for emergency services."

Feser also said the decade that was had its share of funny moments. The longtime stereotype of firefighters saving cats from trees turned out not to be as much of a myth as Feser had thought.

"On average we typically do a pet rescue at least once a year," he said with a laugh. "Of course they're relatively easy to bring down, but there was one instance where we had to bring out our big areal truck as some of our ladders couldn't safely reach where the feline was trapped in the tree. It had been up there already for about a week already."

From funny calls to some very serious ones, from kittens in trees to a brand new fire hall, there's never been a dull year for the fire department yet. With the 2010s now in the rearview mirror, Feser looks back with pride at all his team has accomplished in that time. And he has one final wish for the citizens of Estevan entering the new decade.

"The one thing we still want to consistently see is make sure everyone has working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on all levels," he said. He also added that generally, Estevan's citizens are safety conscious.