A skidoo accident Saturday night had rescue workers searching to locate the man involved.
Emergency crews were called to a skidoo accident north of Ponoka at about 6:45 p.m. Ponoka RCMP were first on the scene north of town from 49 Street. It is believed the man was riding his skidoo in a field near a gravel pit when he crashed.
The challenge for EMS was locating the patient who was said to be in a field surrounded by heavy snow and darkness.
When the accident occurred, the man called nearby friends and explained in detail his exact location, which was then passed on to 911 operators. That helped RCMP, who were on foot due to the deep snow, locate him.
At the time snow had started to fall with a relatively strong wind blowing.
To assist with the rescue, the Ponoka County East District Fire Department was called in. Crews had to use the department’s pickup to access the field where RCMP had located the man.
As the snow was too deep for the larger rescue truck, firefighters grabbed the spinal board and loaded it onto the pickup truck and brought it to the scene.
After a few minutes, the man was loaded on the spinal board and then backed slowly out of the field to where EMS personnel were waiting.
It was unclear at the time if he suffered broken ribs but he was speaking with paramedics at the time.
Structure fire overnight
It was a busy night for the county fire department, which was called to a structure fire east of Ponoka early Sunday morning.
According to Dennis Jones, regional Fire Chief for Ponoka County, the fire was in a mobile home that was being renovated.
There were no injuries from the fire but the mobile unit was destroyed because of it. While the cause of the fire is still being investigated, it appears it may have been accidental.
Ponoka County Fire DepartmentPonoka RCMP
Once the patient was loaded onto a spinal board, firefighters hold him steady on the back of the pickup in order to get him to EMS. At the time of the incident, snow and wind created a cold evening. Photo by Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
