First fire in 40 years
- Details
- Published on Saturday, July 1, 2017
By Sheila Runions
The Rivers Banner
The day was nearly over on June 23 and most volunteers with Rivers/Daly Fire Department were snug in their beds. A call at 11:50 p.m. disturbed that rest and the 14 men who were on call rose and raced to the fire hall to don necessary equipment and head out of town. After travelling two miles east, they turned north to reach the cottage at 23 Sioux Lane in Chimo Resort. It was already fully engulfed in flames; members worked to contained the spread to that lot only.
Fire chief Richard Brown says, “Flames were spreading to a nearby shed and vehicle so I requested Rapid City Fire for mutual aid at 11:55. They arrived on scene at 12:15 a.m. with all their apparatus and 10 members. We also had Jeff Dickson from M&M Drilling bring us 1,200 gallons of water, which we greatly appreciate. Water is always our biggest challenge, plus you can make short work of a large fire with lots of manpower. We had the fire under control around 2 a.m. but we remained on scene to do a full investigation with the office of the fire commissioner until 6:30 a.m.
“We were told there may be an occupant inside, but after investigating and with the help of RCMP and Rivers Police, it was confirmed that everyone was safe and sound.”
The cabin was owned by Garth and June Cumming, who would temporarily vacate their Brandon home to spend the summers at the lake. In recent years their son Joel called this place home but he was not in the building when it caught fire.
A resident on Daly Beach Road (which leads north off Hwy. 25 into the resort) says, “It was almost midnight and we heard the ambulance coming down the highway and we thought, ‘Uh-oh’,” says Maggie Smallwood of the quick conversation with her husband Warren. “Then they shut the sirens off and a couple minutes later the fire truck came and there were more red lights and more red lights and more red lights! There must’ve been about three or four vehicles down there. We looked out and could see a glow over the trees and it was getting bigger and bigger; then the smoke started blowing in an easterly direction so we couldn’t really see anything anymore. It’s just a good thing we had had some recent moisture because that dampened things a bit, otherwise it could’ve been worse.
“This is the first substantial fire I can recall in some 40 years of living here. There’s been the odd stove fire or something, but nothing this serious. The department did an excellent job of containing it. A resident who lives west of Sioux Lane and didn’t see or smell the smoke, didn’t even know about it until she was out walking her dog the next day.”
Cause of the fire is still under investigation but the building, its contents and the Toyota Camry were all insured.
