The Sundre Fire Department and RCMP detachment reported quite the quiet Canada Day long weekend.
“We didn’t have really any major calls at all,” said fire Chief Marty Butts, adding members responded to just a few calls over the long weekend.
Those calls included false alarms as well as a couple of medical assists with EMS, he said.
“It was a quiet weekend considering all of the people we had out west," he said.
Fire conditions in the Sundre area are not dangerously dry, and he said recent rainfall has kept vegetation green, which of course in turn helps to reduce the wildfire hazard.
Meanwhile, members of the Sundre RCMP detachment responded to 23 calls from the evening of June 29 to midnight on July 2, said Cpl. Joe Mandel, who was on call during that time but did not end up being dispatched for any responses.
However, there were a variety of traffic tickets filed upon his return to the detachment. A number of motorists were pulled over for infractions such as failure to wear a seatbelt as well as speeding, he said.
Some drivers seem to be treating a stretch of road on the highway into Sundre as a racetrack, he said.
Some of the speeds clocked over the long weekend in the 100 kilometre per hour zone included a range from 122 to 135 kilometres per hour.
Through town along Main Avenue, the roundabouts continue to largely reduce the speed of drivers, he said.
Since there have been numerous instances of motorists “flying into town” from the highway, police are planning to pursue selective traffic enforcement and will be concentrating on speed as well as distracted driving and other infractions such as failing to buckle up, he said.
There were also four traffic collisions, yet none resulted in any serious injuries. A motorcycle hit a guardrail along the Forestry Trunk Road, and the driver was brought to the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre for observation and subsequently released in good health, he said.
Additionally, one driver was charged for failing to provide a breath sample, while another blew a caution at a roadside test, resulting in an immediate roadside suspension, he said, adding the latter was pulled over for speeding and swerving in the lane. That motorist received a three-day suspension while the vehicle was also seized for three days. Both drivers were from out of town.
A seatbelt infraction traffic stop also resulted in officers discovering a loaded long rifle, and the male driver — a Sundre-area resident — was charged for careless use of a firearm. His firearm and possession of acquisition licence were seized, the corporal said.
There were otherwise no major incidents throughout the Canada Day long weekend he said.
