By TERRY PUGH
PHOTOS BY WARMAN FIRE CHIEF RUSS AUSTIN
About a dozen members of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) along with four firefighters from Warman and Martensville, sifted through the cold, dead ashes of a fire scene at the Warman Fire Training Grounds on Wednesday, July 17.
They were searching for charred remains – in this case pig bones – as part of an intensive one-day course on investigating fatal structure fires.
The course was hosted by Warman Fire Rescue (WFR) and documented by a film crew for the reality television show, ‘Guardians of the North’. The episode is slated to be aired February 25, 2025.
“The training is designed to help emergency response personnel with the SPSA, and our local firefighters, gain theoretical and practical experience in investigating a fatal fire,” said Warman Fire Chief Russ Austin, who coordinated the event in partnership with SPSA senior officials. “The simulation showed what fire does to bones and bodily remains; and how investigators can search for those remains, catalogue what they find and provide the right information to the coroner.
“How skillfully and carefully investigators do their job can mean all the difference to a family of a missing person looking for closure, if they can confirm someone’s identity based on what they find.”
Austin said WFR personnel had built two 8 foot by 12 foot structures on the training grounds in the days leading up to the course. One structure was furnished as a bedroom; the other as a living room.
Dr. Ernie Walker, a forensic anthropologist from Saskatoon, provided several pig bones which were put in the structures at strategic locations. The structures were then set on fire and allowed to burn right to the ground, as part of a scenario in which the fire was deemed to be in a remote location and firefighters were not able to reach it in time.
The ashes were allowed to cool for 24 hours. In the meantime, a classroom session taught by SPSA senior officials was held the morning of July 17. Junior SPSA members and local firefighters received training on proper search techniques and were given some information on the fire scenario. Martensville Deputy Fire Chief James Taylor was also involved in assisting with instruction of the course.
“The simulation was set up as a ‘non-suspicious’ or accidental fatal fire,” said Austin. “If it was a crime scene; that is, a homicide investigation, that would have added a whole other layer to it. Fatal fires which are deemed to be crime scenes are investigated by police.”
The first step for course participants was to lay out a grid pattern over the two areas that had been burned. They then sifted through the ashes, grid by grid, looking for evidence. As part of the scenario, they were asked to determine if a person (in this case represented by the pig bones) had been in the building when it burned.
“The two scenarios each involved fatalities,” said Austin. “The reason for holding this type of course is to provide training for SPSA responders. They’re the ones who would be called on to perform this kind of task in many parts of the province.”
Austin said WFR has provided its training grounds for several other protective services agencies in the past, including STARS, the RCMP, Sskatoon Police, Corrections Services personnel and the SPSA. The courses ranged from helicopter landings and take-offs to ground-penetrating radar training and exhuming clandestine grave sites.
“Warman is ideally situated to be a hub for protective services training,” said Austin. “We have the facilities and space for any emergency response agency to come and train here with us for free.”
A week-long course that will bring about two dozen RCMP members from across the country to Warman is slated for September.
