Two local fire departments were kept busy with several motor vehicle incidents (MVIs) due to icy roads on Nov. 28.
108 Mile Volunteer Fire Department (108VFD) chief Marcelle Ried says a call came in around 9 a.m. on Nov. 28 for assistance with a two-vehicle, head-on collision and entrapment on Highway 97 south of Lac la Hache.
Two units and nine first responders, including five first responders, went to the scene, he explains.
However, 100 Mile House Fire Rescue (OMFR) was already at the crash site and its crews were handling extrication, Ried adds.
"I just did incident command on the highway [traffic and emergency personnel safety] and we had a couple of first responders helping out with the vehicles."
Ried says an engine that was being carried in the cargo box on the pickup had flown out and was sitting on the highway, as was the truck, but the small SUV was down in the ditch.
Fire Rescue chief Roger Hollander says crews were kept busy on scene at the double-fatality, two-vehicle, head-on collision at Lac la Hache early on Nov. 28.
"100 Mile Fire Rescue were the ones that did the extrication of the deceased."
"We got there and started to perform extrication and both were pronounced dead at the scene. Then we had to return to do the extrication of the deceased later on in the evening after the police were done with their investigation."
Busy day
Area firefighter were kept very busy within the 24-hour period that followed the fatal MVI, with crews responding to nine calls, seven on Nov. 28 and a couple more on the morning of Nov. 29, he notes.
"A couple of those were medicals, but most of them were MVIs. So, we were basically on the highway the entire time, back and forth."