Bentley District Fire Department
This past month your fire department has been sent to eight emergency calls;
At 4:13 p.m. on October 27 crews were sent as Mutual Aid to assist Eckville at an alarms call at a large commercial building in their area. A pull station had been activated but upon arrival no alarm was sounding, no smoke, fire or heat was present and no key holder could be contacted so after an investigation firefighters returned to the hall.
On October 28 at 8:37 in the morning ten members were sent to an accident on Highway 12A, at the end of the paved pedestrian path. A truck had left the road and hit the ditch in the paved path area, flying into the dense brush upside down and hidden completely from view. The driver and sole occupant had been trapped partly under the truck for nearly nine hours before being discovered. Firefighters worked hard to even access the truck, cutting through the thicket, using airbags and hydraulic tools to raise the truck and finally cribbing to stabilize it before extricating the patient. Meanwhile the highway was closed down while setting up a landing zone for STARS. The driver was conscious but had serious injuries and was turned over to the care of EMS and the STARS crew. The highway was cleared of debris and fluids and once the helicopter was safely away crews were released by the RCMP.
Over the lunch hour on October 29 crews were sent to a Bentley residence to assist EMS in getting a patient down a flight of stairs to the waiting ambulance.
At 5 p.m. on November 2 a call came in of a grassfire in the ditch on Range Road 3-0. The fire, which turned out to be a controlled burn, had gotten away on the supervisor and turned into several which became unmanageable. All the fires but one were extinguished, and the main burn was left to the management of the supervisor.
On November 7 at 4:19 p.m. fourteen members responded to an MVA in town, where a tractor pulling a discer had lost control on the icy roadway and jackknifed, going through a run of private fencing and wrapping around a light standard. Firefighters used the Sawzall and hydraulic tools to cut the damaged pole away from the machinery and the tractor with discer was able to be driven away by the operator. RCMP, Fortis and Town of Bentley Public Works all attended the scene and firefighters were later released.
At 12:54 p.m. on November 9 crews were sent to a rural residence west of town to assist an older patient who was alert and responsive but having difficulty breathing. EMS had been immediately dispatched but was coming from quite a distance away so the patient was monitored closely until their arrival then carefully loaded into the ambulance for a ride to the hospital.
Later that same day thirteen members were sent to an accident on Highway 20 south of Bentley where a southbound semi had had engine problems and had slowed down, causing the vehicle behind it to slow down and a third vehicle had struck it from behind. Minor injuries were sustained by the driver of the middle vehicle and this patient was attended to by EMS while firefighters maintained traffic control on the dark and slippery conditions on the highway. Vehicles were towed and the roadway was cleaned up and re-opened.
And on November 13 firefighters responded to another alarms call, this time in Gull Lake Village where a smoke detector had been activated. This turned out to be the homeowner testing the system in the cabin and was ruled a non-emergency.
We would like to thank all those who came by on October 31 for our annual Halloween candy hand-out! Our drive-thru event was so well-attended we will do it again, this time for Christmas! Santa’s Celebration will be held at the Fire Hall on Saturday, December 5. Look for more information in the Bentley Community News!