Firefighters Respond to Nursing Home
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$150 PER COPY (GST included) www.heraldsun.ca Publications Mail Agreement No. 40006725 -YPKH`-LIY\HY` Serving Whitewood, Grenfell, Broadview and surrounding areas • Publishing since 1893 =VS0ZZ\L 1XUVLQJKRPHÀUHFDOO ELAINE ASHFIELD | GRASSLANDS NEWS 7KH:KLWHZRRG)LUH'HSDUWPHQWZDVGLVSDWFKHGWRWKH:KLWHZRRG&RPPXQLW\+HDOWK&HQWUHRQ7XHVGD\DIWHUWKHÀUHDODUPDQGDVSULQNOHUZHUHDFWLYDWHG LQVLGHWKHODXQGU\URRPRIWKHORQJWHUPFDUHIDFLOLW\)LUHÀJKWHUVDQGPDLQWHQDQFHSHUVRQQHOZHUHDEOHWRHYHQWXDOO\ORFDWHWKHRULJLQRIWKHSUREOHPDVSULQ- NOHULQVLGHWKHFHLOLQJWKDWKDGIUR]HQFDXVLQJWKHDFWLYDWLRQRIWKHVSULQNOHURQWROLJKWVDQGZLULQJ Firefighters respond to nursing home Frozen pipe sets off ceiling sprinkler and fire alarm in long term care facility By Chris Ashfield to transport residents if necessary as well as be pre- Grasslands News pared for lodging if required. Fortunately, no residents had to be evacuated from the facility. Fire chief Bernard Brûlé said calls like these are Whitewood Fire Department (WFD) was called to always of great concern, especially at this time of year the Whitewood Community Health Centre on Tuesday with temperatures so cold. morning to respond to a possible fire in the long-term “Our first priority is always the safety of the resi- care facility. dents and having the necessary resources in place to The call came in on Feb. 9 at about 10:15 a.m. after evacuate them if necessary, especially on such a cold a sprinkler in the laundry room went off along with day. Fortunately in this situation, it did not get to that the facilities fire alarm system. There was also report point but our EMO volunteers were notified and ready of smoke in the laundry room which could also be in case we needed them,” said Brûlé. smelled in the nearby staff room. The fire chief thanked the firefighters who re- Firefighters, along with maintenance staff and local sponded to the call, noting that many of them left their plumbers, were on scene for a lengthy period of time jobs and drove from communities up to an hour away inspecting the facility to determine the reason for the when the call came in reporting a fire at the nursing alarm and why the sprinkler went off. It was eventu- home. He said their response shows the dedication ally determined that a sprinkler head inside the ceil- they have for the department and their community. ing had frozen and activated, causing water to shoot “When a call comes in for a fire at a facility like a out onto the electrical boxes for the lights as well as long term care home, it can quickly turn into a major onto the drier units, which likely caused the smoke. event requiring a lot of personnel. The minute the Firefighters said damage to the facility included call was confirmed not to be a false alarm, just about minor flooding in the laundry room as well as damage every member within an hour’s drive stopped what to a wall and ceiling where holes were cut to locate they were doing and responded,” said Brûlé. and determine the origin of the fire. “It was also great to see the employees followed The 30-resident room facility was full at the time emergency protocols for the safety of the residents,” of the fire and as part of the WFD’s procedures, the added the chief. Whitewood Emergency Measures Office (EMO) coordi- nator Heather McEwen was contacted and made aware of the situation and to allow the organization to pre- /RRNLQJIRUÀUH ELAINE ASHFIELD | GRASSLANDS NEWS pare in the event residents had to be evacuated. With )LUHÀJKWHUVFKHFNYHQWVRQWKHVLGHDQGURRIRI temperatures near -30 degrees Celsius at the time of WKH:KLWHZRRG&RPPXQLW\+HDOWK&HQWUHZKLOHUH- the call, the EMO was able to quickly procure vehicles VSRQGLQJWRDÀUHFDOORQ)HE 2 February 12, 2021 0HOYLOOH$GYDQFH:KLWHZRRG*UHQIHOO+HUDOG6XQ)RUW4X·$SSHOOH7LPHV Grasslands News Climate has devastating impact on the Prairies By Elaine Ashfield resource economies are subject to large Grasslands News seasonal and interannual variations in climate, and especially to departures from normal conditions (e.g., drought); You would never know it by the feel • Historically, the region has seen of the weather outside – minus 50 de- a population shift from rural to urban grees Celsius with the wind chill factor areas, and in-migration from other prov- – but the country is warming at about inces and beyond Canada in response double the global rate. It is predicted the to economic opportunities. From 2007 - prairies will see a devastating impact 2017, the four fastest growing cities in with climate change becoming “incredi- Canada were the major cities in Alberta bly destructive.” and Saskatchewan. Western Canada has Environment and Climate Change led the nation in the highest rate of em- Canada state the northern hemisphere ployment of landed immigrants (Statis- saw 2020 as the second hottest year on tics Canada, 2018a). record at .98 degree C, with the hottest • Most of the population and commer- year being 1.28 degrees C above the 20th cial activity is in the southern Prairies, century average. which is also the part of the region with Warming this century isn’t much less the most limited and variable water than one degree per decade which is a supply. Most rural communities de- terrifying rate of warming, says Darrin pend on local runoff and groundwater. Qualman, director of climate crisis pol- Urban communities access water from icy. the major rivers and lakes, which also “There is massive change coming to and wildfire in recent years are un- “I actually would say that the num- support the main industries, such as oil Canada’s Prairies which will be incred- precedented, and climate models sug- ber one threat to agriculture anywhere sand mining in northern Alberta. ible destructive,” Qualman told Global gest increased risks of these events in in the world is climate change for sure • The Prairies are home to 39.2 per News. the future,” the results of a study re- because it makes things so unpredict- cent (656,970) of Canada’s Indigenous “It’s not going too far to say that if leased earlier this year by Natural Re- able,” Sylvain Charlebois, a professor population—including 45.8 per cent we made that happen, parts of the Prai- sources Canada (NRC) stated. Canada at Dalhousie University and scientific (246,485) of Canada’s Métis population— ries wouldn’t be farmable anymore,” he in a Changing Climate: Regional Per- director at Agri-Food Analytics Lab with the majority of Indigenous people said. spectives Report will release additional added. living off-reserve (Statistics Canada, Qualman commented on people al- chapters on a rolling basis throughout Charlebois continued with the state- 2019a). More than 10 per cent of the In- ready sharing pictures of flattened crops 2021. ment “I would say that climate change digenous population in the region lives and buildings, among other things that Professor Danny Blair, Department is to agriculture as the pandemic was to in Winnipeg and Regina (Statistics Can- have been damaged and us being only of Geography at the University of Win- retail.” Charlebois feels climate change ada, 2019b). The Prairie provinces are at the beginning of this, as extreme nipeg stated “And so drought should be could impact which types of products entirely covered by numbered treaties, weather events become the most likely really high on people’s list about the are readily available at grocery stores which are the basis for the relationship consequences of climate change on the things to worry about in prairie agricul- in the next several years. between First Nations and the Govern- prairies. ture in the future. A longer growing sea- Canada in a Changing Climate: ment of Canada. “You can probably adapt to moder- son may become norm but unpredictable Recent extreme weather events in ate climate change,” is what Qualman weather patterns can be damaging for Regional Prespectives Report the Prairie provinces include the most predicts. “We’re not facing moderate cli- crops as well as the water availability, Facts: costly natural disasters in Canadian his- mate change. We’re facing extreme and increased risks of pests, vector-borne • More than 80 per cent of Canada’s tory. The 20 most costly weather events devastating climate change. Adaptation diseases and invasive species.” agricultural land and most of the coun- in Canada since 1983 show 13 occurred plans may be prudent but it’s much The kind of warming we’re on track try’s irrigated agriculture is located in in the Prairies. Six of the top 10 have oc- more critical to really reduce emissions for means water management in the the Prairies; curred in the Prairies region since 2010. fast.” Prairies will become increasingly im- • Water resources, ecosystems and 6((&/,0$7( “The impacts of flooding, drought, portant, Blair stated. 21022bs0 www.grasslandsnews.ca 0HOYLOOH$GYDQFH:KLWHZRRG*UHQIHOO+HUDOG6XQ)RUW4X·$SSHOOH7LPHV February 12, 2021 3 Climate has devastating impact on the Prairies continued from 2 The socio-economic impacts of new regional ecosystems will be punc- drought are widespread, both geograph- tuated by phases of change as global ically and throughout the economy. warming interacts with regional vari- During the drought year of 2002, crop ability and weather events. losses alone were in the billions of dol- Collaboration among governments, lars, with negative net farm income in municipalities and Indigenous commu- Saskatchewan and zero farm income in nities is required to deal with the geo- Alberta. graphic shifts in the availability of water Climate Change and ecological resources. As climate change alters the frequency and inten- With climate change, the Prairie sity of extreme weather, the longer-term provinces are projected to be much less risks posed by climate change will in- cold than at present, with increased clude an amplified range of water levels total precipitation, although mostly in and associated consequences: flooding, winter and spring (Zhang et al., 2019).