Business as usual for emergency services as ‘Big Dig’ begins

“We have a plan on how to get them (emergency vehicles) to the bridge, we are actually going to keep an opening if they need to at 12th (Street West), so they can get in across the bridge quicker so we can cut off the traffic and we’re going to continue to massage those plans for the rest of the week,” Mayor Greg Dionne said.

For the Prince Albert Fire Department, the plan is to focus on priority routes to get the equipment and crews across the bridge, Fire Chief Jason Everitt said.

“Right now, you know, the ability for us to access the bridge from 12th Street is probably the best option, that’s the way our crews probably will be responding. That way we can bypass any congestion from 15th Street to 12th.”

The City has put out concrete barriers to block the traffic from entering the side streets from Second Avenue West on the west side.

The fire department will go an extra block to the west and come back if there’s an incident in those respective areas, Everitt said.

Everitt said he observed the traffic flowing well along Second Avenue West on Monday morning. As long as the traffic is flowing northbound, he said he doesn’t anticipate a problem for the fire department accessing the bridge with their vehicles.

Dionne said there is a mutual aid agreement with Buckland Fire and Rescue, but he said there’s an issue there too, since a lot of their volunteer firefighters live in Prince Albert. He pointed out the RCMP is also located on the north side of the bridge to assist with police response.

“When it comes to emergency response, I believe we have that well in hand.”

Parkland Ambulance’s Lyle Karasiuk said, as of mid-Monday morning, paramedics have not reported any difficulties crossing the bridge. He said the City has options in place for them to be able to turn against traffic, and to enter and exit the bridge.

But the situation is no different now than the one they were facing when lane restrictions were in effect a few years ago after the discovery of a cracked girder on the bridge.

Back then they encountered very few, if any delays, Karasiuk said.

“The public was so incredibly respectful of us to create the opportunities to, you know, wait and let us sneak into traffic,” he said.

For drivers who see emergency vehicles approaching from the side or the back, Everitt asks them to pull over if they can and if space is available. If not, and they’re travelling across the bridge, he said drivers should continue to move at a normal pace and pull to the right when the opportunity presents itself.

“We definitely don’t want to have any additional incidents arise en route to an emergency, so we just ask that people just remain calm and at the first available opportunity, just pull to the right and let us go by.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

Business as usual for emergency services as ‘Big Dig’ begins

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