By Sheri Monk

One minute he was on his way to feed the cows. The next, Randy Bohnet was trying to save an outbuilding from the flames which consumed it.
“I didn’t even get down to feed the cows,” said Bohnet, who spotted the blaze and called for assistance.
Bohnet and his wife Katherine live southwest of Maple Creek, just off Highway No. 271 which leads to Fort Walsh.
Bohnet used the outbuilding for welding and tool storage, shortly before leaving to do chores, he had finished his task and put away his welding tools.
“A spark had got into some cardboard and I didn’t know,” he explained.
The Maple Creek Fire Department was first on the scene – but waiting for help to arrive can be agonizing when living outside of town.
“They came as fast as they could, but it seemed like forever,” Bohnet described.
Though the fire department engaged the flames and prevented the fire from spreading, the rural fire truck only holds 1,500 gallons of water – not enough to even put out the flames of a small outbuilding.
However, Downie Lake Colony was called and two young men quickly arrived with their fire truck to continue the task.
Bohnet says he is grateful for the help and for the concern showed by everyone.
“They did a great job and then Downie Lake came out. Neighbors were coming by, they just wanted to see if they could do anything. There’s lots of good people in this country.”
The building and its contents were not insured and were a total loss. While he lost all of his hand tools and welding equipment, Bohnet was more concerned about family heirlooms and collectibles and their sentimental value.
“You know the building wasn’t worth much, but all my dad’s tools and all the stuff he’s collected for the last 50 years were in there. There was some antique stuff my grandfather had and my dad’s socket sets. It was really hard phoning him and telling him.”
Bohnet said he’s very thankful for the help of the firefighting crews and for the support shown by his neighbors. At the time of the fire, Kathryn, a veterinarian, was at work, but Bohnet says she took the news pretty well.
“She’s the most optimistic person I’ve ever met,” he said.

Darcy Chmilar , a firefighter of 18 years, says the rural truck is limited by the power of its pump.
“It’s got just a little pump, much like every other farmer probably has on their wagon,” he said. “Everybody just has a little Honda pump or whatever, and that’s basically what we have on our rural truck.”
While good for grass fires, the lackluster pump can only push out water at about 200 gallons per minute, according to Chmilar. The town fire truck is capable of pumping out 1250 gallons per minute.
“If you’re going to go into a house that’s burning, you want to have some good pressure and some water because you’re going in normally with two lines. You want to make sure you have adequate water. A small pump like ours, you wouldn’t want to risk a firefighter’s life.”
The increased pressure means firefighters can fight the flames from further away, for instance, through a window or down a hallway. The Maple Creek Fire Department’s current set-up would leave them ill-equiped to fight a house fire safely or effectively.
“You don’t want to be on top of the fire to put it out,” Chmilar said. “The farther away you are, the safer you are. It’s a pressure and a volume of water thing,” said Chmilar.
Chmilar said he will sit down with fire chiefs Stork and trent Empey in the near future to discuss the matter.
“I’s like to get together with them and see if we can go to the RM (of Maple Creek) council.”
The rural truck is about 10 years old, but replacing it would be expensive. The more powerful pump alone could cost as much as $20,000 and the truck could near $200,000.
The Maple Creek firefighters – combined with the services of the Downie Lake truck which holds more than twice the water the rural truck does – were able to douse the flames at the Bohnet fire.
“In a perfect world, every department would have a tanker like that so that when we have a big house fire on a farm some where, you could call in Piapot and Golden Prairie and whoever and get them to bring that truck over and then we’d have that much more water,” he explained. “For the most part we did pout it out. Hot spots are totally different. It’s like hay bales, you can wet them down to where you put them out, but you need a ton of water to get the hot spots and unfortunately water is always going to be a big deal.”
Chmilar says Bohnet’s observation of how time seemed to slow when waiting for the firefighters to arrive is bang on.
“I doubt if most people who live on farms, five miles out or 25 miles out, realize that when we go out there, fi they had a house fire, there’s a good chance that by the time we got even out to Bohnets there, if that was the house, it’s going to be fully involved,” said Chmilar. “The way everything is built now, everything burns so fast. And we’re not going to be able to go into a house with our little pump and be able to knock down a fire that’s burning two bedrooms and a kitchen or something like that. That’s where you need a real structure fire pump. Nobody wants to lose a building, but if it’s a house, that’s a big deal.”