WEDNESDAY JANUARY 2, 2013
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Vol. 61, Issue 1
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Holiday week keeps Search & Rescue hopping ANNALEE GR ANT Townsman Staff
It’s been a busy week at Cranbrook Search and Rescue, as the team went from one slippery scene to another. Nick Bedwell, Ground Search and Rescue Training Officer and public relations representative for Cranbrook SAR said the team was using two trucks over the weekend to attend all the scenes they were called to. “We usually get a day or two like this every year,” he said.
But not all of those calls were emergency situations, some involved already cleared scenes. “A lot of it is just people driving past and just calling it in,” Bedwell said. When the RCMP have cleared a scene, they will tie a piece of flagging tape to it. Bedwell is urging the public to make sure there is no tape before calling in to 911 to report an accidents.
See SEARCH, Page 3
Platzl fire’s cause under investigation “We’d still be fighting it,” Assistant Fire Chief says, if not for the fire department’s new ladder truck C AROLYN GRANT Daily Bulletin
CHRIS PULLEN PHOTO/WWW.CRANBROOKPHOTO.COM REPRINTS AVAILABLE AT: WWW.CRANBROOKPHOTO.COM
MONTY MARKS IT: Kootenay Ice forward Brock Montgomery tangles with Colby Harmsworth of the Calgary Hitmen during WHL action at Western Financial Place last Monday night. Montgomery is pictured scoring the game’s second goal into an open net in the third period.The Ice won their second consecutive game by defeating their opponents 3-2 to start the new year off on a high note. Kootenay returns to action on Wednesday evening when they host the visiting Red Deer Rebels. See Sports on Page 8 for more details.
When the City of Kimberley purchased the ladder truck for the Fire Department a couple of years ago, it was argued that one day it might prove very valuable on a major fire. That day came last Friday, December 28, as the Kootenay Cycle Works building in the Platzl went up in flames. With the ability to get at the fire and spray water from above, firefighters were able to save the building immediately adjacent — the Gilded Goat — and prevent the
fire from spreading through the entire block. The buildings in the Platzl are older and very close together. Had the fire taken off, it could have been catastrophic, says Kimberley Assistant Fire Chief Rick Prasad. “We’d still be fighting it,” Prasad said Monday morning. “The ladder truck was extremely useful in protecting the remaining structures. We were able to get water on the nearby buildings and prevent the fire from spreading.”
See FIRE , Page 3