Two more Saskatchewan fire departments were put to the test Saturday fighting two simultaneous blazes in Star City, after a fire at a landfill in Whitewood on Friday night and an empty building fire in Saskatoon on Saturday morning.
All were made more challenging for firefighters by the extreme cold blanketing the province.
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Posting on social media, Melfort Fire and Rescue say they were called out on Saturday morning around 11:15 a.m. to help Star City Fire Dept fight two fires burning in adjacent structures in the town, about 18 kilometres east of Melfort.
Temperatures in the area were around -32 C at the time, Environment Canada said, with wind chill values making it feel like -39 C.
The department said that when crews got there they found both a trailer and a home fully engulfed in flames.
Firefighters fought through the cold, wind and ice and were finally able to put the blazes out after roughly four hours.
Whitewood Fire Department said fighting the landfill fire where a large hill of garbage had ignited on Saturday took eight hours, with crews battling -35 C weather, frozen water lines, frozen trucks and equipment, and “frozen firefighters.”
Environment Canada says the Arctic blast will continue to affect most of the province for the next few days, with temperatures warming to seasonal later in the week.
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