A relatively busy but otherwise uneventful Victoria Day long weekend was marred by a fatality after a dirt bike crashed out west.
“For the most part, the weekend went off safely and without major issue,” said the Sundre RCMP detachment’s Cpl. Joe Mandel.
From Thursday, May 17 to Monday, May 21, the local police received 43 calls for service. An additional eight members from neighbouring detachments were brought in to assist Sundre’s officers with policing efforts over the long weekend, he said.
“We had a lot of users come through but most were well behaved.”
However, tragedy struck on the afternoon of Saturday, May 19. Shortly after 2 p.m., police received a report of an off-highway single motor vehicle collision in a remote area west of Sundre.
“A 32-year-old male from Cochrane, who was a firefighter with Bearspaw Fire Station, was killed in the Limestone area when his dirt bike left the road,” said Mandel, adding the unfortunate incident leaves behind a wife and two young children.
A police press release said first aiders rendered assistance, and due to the isolated nature of the location they had to transport the male to the Bearberry Community Centre, where paramedics met them. STARS also arrived at the scene, but the 32-year-old was pronounced deceased. Next of kin were notified and the investigation was ongoing as of last week. Police said alcohol was determined to not be a factor in the crash.
Throughout the rest of the weekend, police removed four impaired drivers from the roads and also followed up on a few firearms complaints about individuals apparently shooting guns in the West Country as well as detonating explosive targets. Additionally, there were reports of some campers who left trash behind, said Mandel.
“We had several garbage waste complaints where users left their campsite a mess.”
Members of the Sundre Volunteer Search and Rescue Society also participated on the evening of May 18 in a checkstop that was set up on Rig Street — the industry road that by extension offers campers access to the backcountry. They distributed all of their roughly 250 pamphlets that promote their organization as well as offer information urging recreational land users to, for safety’s sake, be prepared with contingency plans when heading out into remote areas that have no cell coverage and can take long periods of time for emergency crews to reach, he said.
Meanwhile, Marty Butts, the Sundre Fire Department’s chief, said the long weekend was not too bad.
There were about a half dozen calls responded to, including medical responses to provide paramedics with assistance, an alarm at a commercial building in Sundre, and the fatal crash west of town, he said.
“We went out on that as well. That was the worst one.”
There are so many people who head out to the West Country during a long weekend that something unfortunate usually occurs, he said.
But considering the tens of thousands of people who flooded into Alberta’s foothills from west of Calgary to west of Rocky Mountain House, Sundre’s fire chief said there was “nothing too crazy” in our area.
“We weren’t run off our feet,” said Butts.
“But it was steady.”
