Clearwater RCMP responded to 26 calls for service this past week including a stranded motorist and a roll over just off Highway 5 according to detachment commander, Sgt. Grant Simpson.
On Monday, April 22 at 7 a.m. Simpson said he was advised of a stranded motorist where a man from Grande Prairie with Iphone satellite emergency relay had reported that he was stuck in the snow on a logging road.
The driver told police that he had been following directions from Google on his phone when he ended up on the back road and had been stuck there for the past 15 hours. RCMP obtained coordinates from his Iphone.
He was travelling in a Volkswagen (VW) Passat, heading back home from Salmon Arm. Simpson said when he started driving into snow, he realized he was not on the right roadway and tried to turn around. As a result he ended up stuck.
The driver was able to relay information to 911 dispatch through his Iphone emergency relay center advising them of his situation.
“He was uninjured, had no food or water, and had a half a tank of gas that would allow him to stay warm in his vehicle for the rest of the night until Search and Rescue (SAR) could reach him.,” said Simpson.
RCMP notified Wells Gray Search and Rescue, who were assembling a team from Barriere SAR, to head up Barriere Lake North Forest Services Road (FSR) and one from Wells Gray who would head down Adams Lake FSR to hopefully meet up from either direction to locate the stuck male.
At 2:43 p.m. an update from Wells Gray SAR Manager Les Sakals was provided advising that shortly after 12:10 p.m. Barriere SAR had made contact with the stuck male on the Gollen FSR off of Adams Lake FSR.
“They were able to easily push his VW out of the snow and then followed him out to the Barriere Petro Can to ensure that he had enough fuel and did not get lost again. Another successful rescue professionally executed by our local Sear and Rescue organizations,” said Simpson.
In another call for service, on Thursday, April 25 at 2:59 p.m., B.C. Ambulance contacted the Clearwater RCMP to report an vehicle collision in the 3000 block of Highway 5, at Blackpool.
Simpson said a single vehicle had gone off road right and was upside down with two occupants possibly pinned. Simpson, along with Const. Klassen and Cpl. McGeorge, attended along with Blackpool Fire and Rescue and the BC EHS helicopter.
“The two occupants had been removed from the vehicle by a male witness. The driver was identified by his Alberta drivers licence as a male out of St. Albert, AB, and the passenger was his wife.
Simpson said the driver told him he had been driving since Edmonton and fell asleep and crashed into the ditch.
”BC Air Ambulance had attended the scene, making a dramatic landing on the highway. Air Ambulance was eventually stood down as both the driver and his wife were transported to Kamloops hospital for care via vehicular ambulance. Both are expected to be fine.”
Driver impairment was quickly determined not to be a factor, Simpson said, noting the vehicle, a blue Hyundai Santa Fe bearing Alberta licence plates (owned by the government of Alberta) was totaled.