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Bitter cold grips region
Foothills frost
chills residents By Jessica Patterson
Times Reporter
Friday February 01, 2008
Baby, it’s cold outside.
But, for High River residents, this week’s cold snap hasn’t been too much of a hassle.
Monday brought with it temperatures that were bitter, and posed problems for Foothills School Division buses.
A quick check with school division officials revealed that they don’t declare a snow day when the temperatures hit specific temperatures.
“They look at a number of circumstances,” said division executive assistant Rita Janzen.
When it gets really cold, the buses aren’t as reliable, she said.
“What they were predicting Monday was –37 (C), and that becomes pretty hard on vehicles, people and animals,” said Virginia McLeod, the division’s director of transportation.
Superintendent Jim McLellan made the decision to cancel bus service Tuesday because of the temperature. There were several bus routes that weren’t running Monday because of a variety of cold-related problems. One ran into a snowdrift, another wouldn’t start, and another couldn’t be unlocked because its doors had frozen shut, McLeod said.
“Some people make that choice themselves, to keep their children home when it gets that cold,” she said.
Most of the schools in the Foothills stayed open.
In town, public works crews were still plugging away, especially when it came to town equipment.
“We expect this a few times a year,” said town public works foreman Dean Downey.
“It causes problems with the water and sewer department, with people calling in about frozen water lines,” he said.
The fire department was keeping its fingers crossed that nothing would happen during the cold snap, said fire Chief Len Zebedee. As of press time, nothing had.
“We’ve been fortunate we haven’t had anything during this cold snap,” Zebedee said.
“Because the cold weather is extremely hard on equipment when we’re pumping water.”
High River RCMP reported no complaints related to the cold snap, nor were their members particularly affected.
“We police 365 days a year, and we’ve got to be prepared for the conditions,” said Staff Sgt. Ross Shapka.
Some of the members are a little more bundled up with turtlenecks and tuques, than normal uniform, but the staff sergeant turns a blind eye to it.
“Survival is more important than whether you look good.”
And the Foothills Regional EMS executive-director Fred Stegmeier would agree.
“It’s important in cold weather like this, when people are travelling, never to leave without a full tank of gas, blankets and good solid winter clothing, not the fashionable stuff,” he said.
Stegmeier reminded residents to always let someone know where they’re going and when they plan to get to their destination, “so if we have to go looking for them, we know where to look,” he said.
Environment Canada has forecasted the temperatures to warm up in a few weeks. |
