Martensville Fire Department (MFD) Deputy Fire Chief Dean Brooman has spent 28 years with the department; however, on Tuesday, December 12th, Brooman experienced something that he had never seen before; two structure fires back-to-back.
The first call came in at approximately 2:40am on December 12th, where the MFD responded to a structure fire at Premium Select Auto Solutions on Centennial Drive South in Martensville. Brooman noted that upon arrival, there were flames already visible.
“We rolled up with two pumpers and a tanker and began fighting the fire with heavy water flow, using bigger lines because we already had flames showing from outside the building. We went defensive right away rather than offensive so we could prevent exposures and we worked to get the fire out without going inside the building,” Brooman explained.
Mutual aid was called from Warman Fire Rescue, who brought their aerial truck and Dalmeny Fire and Rescue, who arrived with a pumper for additional support. In total, the members on scene worked on the fire for approximately six hours.
That fire is currently under investigation, as well as an additional fire to that location, which took place on December 10th at approximately 5:30am. The December 10th fire was located outside the business, and was suspicious in nature, as was the December 12th fire. According to Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers, the December 10th fire was caused due to a trail of fuel from the fence in the alleyway to the back entrance of the building. The fire was extinguished, with no damage to the building.
The Martensville RCMP is asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in relation to these incidents to contact the RCMP at 310-RCMP, or Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers with an anonymous tip at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.saskcrimestoppers.com.
Upon arriving back at the fire hall following the December 12th fire, at approximately 9:30am, another call came in regarding a residence fire on 5th Street South in Martensville.
“We had just gotten back to the hall and we were in the process of putting our trucks back in service, which includes restocking the trucks, filling our tanks and preparing everything for future calls, when the second call came in. We responded with Engines 1 and 2 and called in Warman Fire Rescue again for back-up,” Brooman said.
Once again, flames were visible upon arrival and the MFD sprang into action, this time, going interior and battling the blaze from both inside and outside. Approximately three hours were spent on scene. This fire was not suspicious, with the cause being accidental.
There were no injuries reported at either fire, and unfortunately, both structures were destroyed.
“Our members were fantastic. They worked long hours and they worked hard despite being wet and cold. And then they went and did it all over again. Their dedication to the community really showed in a tremendous way with these two fires,” Brooman added. “It is days like December 12th that shows the importance of the mutual aid agreements that we have in place with surrounding communities. Resources can be stretched and having that extra support can be critical in times like that.”
Not only did the MFD respond to two fires on December 12th, but Brooman noted there were additional calls that day as well, one during the second fire regarding smoke alarms going off at another residence, and a couple of medical calls in the afternoon.
“It was a busy day for us, but we were able to handle the work-load, make it to all the calls and work with the province investigating the two fires, as well as work with the business owners and renters of the house to ensure their needs were met and help out any way that we could on our end.”
