Maple Ridge News, September 11, 2015

Page 1

Community: Parents angry abo out needles at schools. 3

Municipal: Chipping program starts early.

SSports: W West Coas Coast team teams hoi hoist cup cups. 29 Fr i d ay, S e p te m b e r 11, 2 015 · mapleridgenews.com · est. 1978 · (office) 604-467-1122 · (del ive r y) 6 0 4 - 4 6 6 - 6 3 9 7

Co-op fire started in pickup truck Donations organized for eight households By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com

The long weekend fire that damaged eight households at a Pitt Meadows co-op originated with a pickup parked in a carport. Fire investigators, with the RCMP, were still examining the truck to try and determine what caused the ignition on Thursday, said Pitt Meadows assistant fire chief Brad Perrie. Vehicle fires are not uncommon, and can be caused by fuel leaks or electrical system faults, said Perrie. But, he added, the fire will be considered suspicious in origin, possibly deliberately set, until the cause is determined. See Fire, 3

Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS

A young man cleans up debris at the Harris Road co-op in Pitt Meadows on Wednesday after a major fire there last weekend.

‘Used needles not a risk’ City wants information on collection programs By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com

Mothers and fathers who encounter used needles around Maple Ridge parks and schools and the city workers and volunteers who pick them up got a bit of reassurance Tuesday. “The actual risk of a needle found outside is about the same

as a rusty nail or a piece of glass,” medical health officer Dr. Marcus Lem told council. Blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis C or HIV don’t survive outside the human body, and to catch a disease would require an actual injection of blood. “When they’re outside the body, they don’t actually survive very well.” The risk of transmission of those diseases from a discarded needle outside is minimal, he added. It’s never happened for HIV and only

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once with Hep C, working out to about a 1 in 100 million chance of contracting the latter. “There’s never been one transmission that is related to a discarded needle outside a health-care setting. It’s theoretically possible, but it’s never actually happened.” Drug users, though, can spread disease when they share needles on the same occasion. Lem, though, shares concerns about the numbers of needles found around Maple Ridge and wants to work with the city.

He, along with Fraser Health harm reduction coordinator Erin Gibson, explained the ideas behind harm reduction and providing clean needles to drug users. But Mayor Nicole Read wanted more than generalities. While she understands the risk, finding needles in parks and on school grounds is still stressful for people, she added. How many needles are given out and how many come back, she asked.

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A bunch of opened needles were found behind a business in Maple Ridge.

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