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Sentinel
Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 50
Cause of blaze unknown Cameron Orr The Kitimat Fire Department sourced the fire which burned down a mobile home on Cranberry Street to a spot underneath the trailer in a far corner, but extensive fire damage has ultimately meant the cause of the blaze will go unknown. “Looks like the fire potentially started in or around the skirting and potentially underneath the trailer, so [it was] burning up in to the contents,” said deputy Fire Chief Pete Bizarro. One of two persons in the home “Due to the was treated for mifact that there nor injuries, however two of five dogs was substantial in the home didn’t structure make it out. The fire broke damage, at out on November 30 this point it’s at around 7:20 p.m. undetermined” Crews from the fire department responded with a ladder truck and were on scene for approximately three hours. Upon arrival, the mobile home was fully involved. An adjacent shop structure was saved from sustaining fire damage. Eleven firefighters and two chief officers responded along with personnel from the District of Kitimat Public Works Department, BC Hydro, Pacific Northern Gas and the RCMP. “Due to the fact that there was substantial structure damage, at this point it’s undetermined,” said Bizarro. He said an investigator from the homeowner’s insurance company would also come up to do their own investigation. Meanwhile the fire department did come up to some unanticipated challenges which they were able to easily work around during the fire. Namely that two fire hydrants didn’t work for them and an additional fire truck from the fire hall had to be called down to provide backup water. “We were unable to get water. Not sure what the cause was,” said Bizarro, adding that District staff were called in to fix the problem before they left the scene. A hydrant on Quatsino Boulevard worked and provided water, and Bizarro said those technical challenges didn’t impact fire suppression, and that there is usually some unanticipated challenge on any call out. “From a bystander’s perspective it’s tough to hear these issues,” he said, but added, “That’s what we do and that’s what we’re trained for... It’s all about how you manage these problems.”
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
$
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Mayor Joanne Monaghan in one of her final tasks as mayor on December 1, along with Janet Meyer, former Roy Wilcox Elementary staffer, joined Walter Thorne and Sue Jay at Nechako Elementary to go through a time capsule first put together in 1964 (but later added to) at Roy Wilcox. The capsule was opened in front of students at a morning assembly. The capsule was moved to Nechako when the school closed. Shown here is a 1988 declaration making October 7 of that year “Roy Wilcox/Whitesail School Day in Kitimat.”
Prentice pitches petro pipelines Cameron Orr In a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade on December 1, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice called pipeline proposals — including Northern Gateway — “nation building” projects, saying such developments have the potential “to transform our country for the better.” Prentice calls the revenues that oil sands expansion will generate as “long term” and will be sustained over 50 years. Prentice gave Canada a timeline of no later than 2020 to get pipelines built, otherwise the country’s pipeline capacity will fall short of new production in Alberta, and will impact the value the country receives on oil. “We will start to get bottlenecks,” he said. “We will be selling Canadian energy to U.S. marketplace at deeply discounted prices.” The problems will grow further and will limit the revenue available for social programs and for health care. He said that all Canadians “will feel the pain” if energy projects aren’t development. Energy, he said, is “at the core” of Canada’s prosperity. “And make no mistake, if we prove unable to meet global demand, then someone else in a competitive world will gladly
step forward and do it instead of us,” he said. Along with Northern Gateway Prentice also was speaking in reference to Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in Burnaby and Keystone. Prentice doesn’t exclude liquefied natural gas development in B.C. as a nation building project as well. All that said, Prentice does admit that development does come at a cost beyond financial. “I will not minimize the cost of increasing Canada’s presence in global energy market,” he said. “If we are going to be leaders in energy we must also, as Canadians, be leaders in environmental protection.” Skeena MLA Robin Austin says Prentice is doing what an Alberta premier needs to but says the notion that Alberta interests equate to national interests is wrong. “He wants to make sure he can get the best dollar for their oil, and that’s why they want to see pipelines built,” said Austin. “I think that each community and each province has to decide what’s best for themselves.” He said it’s not nation building like railway development was at the turn of the 20th century. Continued on page 12
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