LAKELAND - March weather came in like a lion across the Lakeland region, and it continues to have a fierce bite as the snow, freeze and thaw cycle continues with the recent snowfall warning issued on Sunday.
The unpredictable and challenging weather has been troubling and tragic for area motorists, says Lac La Biche County's Regional Fire Chief and Manager of Protective Services John Kokotilo.
"We are averaging a motor vehicle crash every two days," said Kokotilo at the start of last week, following a week and a half of March weather that saw massive changes in weather patterns.
As well as reported cases, including one fatality crash on the Beaver Lake Cree Nation on March 8 that claimed the life of a 78-year-old Beaver Lake woman, many area motorists have dealt with slip and slide instances with fender-benders, near-misses and vehicles stuck in ditches and snowbanks.
The call-outs for Lac La Biche County Fire Services from the start of the year to the second week of March — with incident responses nearing 50 leading up to last weekend — are high.
"We are up over 10 per cent in total incident responses over the same period as last year," Kokotilo said, explaining that the severity and variety of the weather is a major factor. "The amount of snow accompanied by changing temperatures and high winds – blowing, blizzard, white-out conditions ..."
He encourages all motorists to weigh the options of travel when it comes to road and weather conditions. If travel is necessary, the message is the common caution.
"Always use due care and attention and drive to the road conditions," he said, explaining that emergency crews must also drive with the same cautions in mind. "Always think to themselves that they are of no use if they do not get to the emergency."
Training the crews
Specialized driver training courses for emergency staff are mandatory if they operate emergency equipment, he said, allowing them to be as prepared as they can be for any driving conditions.
"We have a driver training course that all of our new members must complete and pass before they are certified to drive our emergency response apparatus in a response situation," he said. "The course has a minimum of 15 hours of practical driving skills under different road and light conditions – snow, ice, night, day, wet and dry."
According to the www.lakelandtoday.ca Environment Canada's upcoming forecast, those dry conditions are not expected across the Lakeland anytime soon.
The snowfall warning that was issued on Sunday morning was expected to be removed by early Monday after upwards of 15 centimetres of wet snow was expected to have fallen across the Lakeland. With temperatures in the minus 5 to 10 Celsius range for the same overnight time period, driving conditions to start the week were expected to be icy. A warm-up in daytime temperatures into the low single digits is expected through the week, but overnight lows are expected to stay below zero until at least the weekend. The long-range forecast for the week from Environment Canada was showing no signs of precipitation.
Kokotilo reminds all motorists to be aware of the road conditions and to pull over safely when they see emergency vehicles approaching on roadways.
