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Kilometre markers important Fire department officials say proper reporting of accident locations is crucial
Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, July 25, 2013
DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
After wrong information was relayed to emergency responders concerning the location of a motor vehicle accident earlier this month, the Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department is calling on motorists to have a clearer understanding of the kilometre marker system used on the territory's highways.
The Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department says kilometre markers, like this one near Fort Simpson, are vital when reporting motor vehicle accidents. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo
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It's important that people reporting motor vehicle accidents or other incidents give the number from the closest kilometre marker to ensure emergency organizations can respond quickly and efficiently, said Christopher Carson, a training officer with the Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department.
"It's a matter of making sure no one dies as a result of wrong information being passed on," he said.
Carson said he thinks some people confuse the distance between landmarks or communities with kilometre markers when reporting accidents. Kilometre markers, white stakes along the side of a highway with a blue rectangle and a white number on it, display the distance to the start of that highway.
Incorrect information about the location of an accident created confusion for the Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department on July 9.
The department received a call from the Yellowknife Fire Department asking them to respond to a motor vehicle accident on Highway 3 where there was an injured driver and aviation gas on the scene. The original information was that the accident was at kilometre marker 108 near Chan Lake, 78 kilometres from Fort Providence, Carson said. After checking with the RCMP, the department responded with a support truck.
According to Dennis Marchiori, the City of Yellowknife's director of the public safety department, the information came to the city's fire department from the company that owned the tanker in the accident. The company had received a call "from another individual that provided a mile-marker of kilometre 108," Marchiori wrote in an e-mail.
Once the members of the department passed Chan Lake, they realized the information was incorrect, but had no way to communicate with Yellowknife to double check the location, he said.
"We were wondering where the heck it was," said Carson.
Using a radio and the channel used by transport truck drivers, the members of the department in the truck found out the driver of the crashed super B fuel tanker had already been removed from the vehicle. The department decided to carry on anyway and make the trip a training exercise, said Carson.
The scene of the accident turned out to be at kilometre marker 199, about 60 kilometres south of Behchoko and approximately 170 kilometres from Fort Providence.
If the department had originally known how far away the crash was, it wouldn't have responded and the Yellowknife Fire Department likely wouldn't have asked it to in the first place, said Carson.
Members of the public need to know how the kilometre marker system works so emergency services can respond as quickly as possible following an accident, he said.
The highway was closed between the morning and evening of July 9 as a result of the single-vehicle accident. The tanker, owned by RTL/Westcan, rolled on its side, spilling between 12,000 and 14,000 litres of jet A-1 fuel into the ditch. As of July 22, the soil at the spill site had been excavated and tests
were being conducted to determine if any of the fuel migrated under the highway.
The excavated area won't be filled in until the test results have been received, according to information from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
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