On Saturday, the Dauphin Fire Department responded to a garage fire in the City's north end. Cam Abery, Dauphin's Fire Chief, said the department determined the cause to be accidental.
"Upon arrival, we found that it was a single detached garage that was fully involved in the fire, and the overhead electrical lines had burnt off and were arcing in the backyard. Crews were able to extinguish the fire in a short time, and during the investigation it was revealed that the fire was accidental in nature," said Abrey.
Saturday was not a great day to be fighting fires: pair a humidex of 41 with heavy equipment and hot firefighting gear, and heat stroke or exhaustion are a serious concern. Abrey said he's glad so many firefighters showed up, because they were able to rotate teams effectively, to both battle the blaze and stave off heat exhaustion.
"Given the heat of the day, and the equipment that the firefighters are wearing, we had rapid rotations where people were able to come out and take off their jackets, and get some water into them to try and maintain core temperatures, and look after everyone so that there's no signs of heat exhaustion," said Abrey.
Dauphin's Fire Department operates as a paid on-call department. Abrey thanks his firefighters for responding quickly, dropping whatever they're doing to help out.
