Wildfire evacuees save residents from structure fire in North Battleford

Evacuees from the wildfires in northern Saskatchewan staying in North Battleford sprang into action last week, helping local residents whose house caught fire.

Dwayne Bourassa, Ethan Maurice, Roger McCallum and Edwin Gunn of the English River First Nation are among more than 500 evacuees who stayed in North Battleford after being forced to evacuate. More than 250 remain in North Battleford.

The four were working as security guards for First Security, helping oversee the safety of other wildfire evacuees at city hotels overnight Monday, when they noticed smoke on the horizon coming from the Riverview neighbourhood.

The North Battleford Fire Department said there was a fire at a home on 742 99th Street. It took firefighters about an hour and a half to put it out. Two elderly residents of the home escaped without injury.

Due to the location of the fire, and the size of the blaze, the smoke was visible from a number of blocks away.

The fire department said the outcome could have been a lot worse if not for the immediate action of the four security guards — Bourassa, Maurice, McCallum and Gunn — who lent a hand in getting the residents to safety.

“While conducting security checks at the Tropical Inn Hotel, Dwayne, Ethan, Roger and Edwin observed smoke coming from the 99th Street area of town. They immediately attended that neighbourhood, discovered the fire and rendered assistance to evacuate the property’s residents before our Fire Department arrived on scene,” North Battleford Fire Dept. Deputy Chief Paul Perry said.

“Without the actions of these selfless people, the outcome of this structure fire would have been much different, and had the potential to result in loss of life.”

A preliminary investigation determined the cause of the fire was an electrical issue.