Captain Lyle Davis of the Ste. Anne Fire Department says his team faced one of the largest incidents of their careers on Friday, responding to a multi-vehicle pile-up during a blizzard.
“We were dispatched around 8:30 a.m. to a multi-vehicle accident on Highway 12, about three kilometres south of Ste. Anne,” said Davis. “As we were heading to the scene, I got another notification from 911 saying there had been multiple calls, and it was just piling up.”
When the crew arrived, RCMP and paramedics were already on site. Davis described the scene as overwhelming.
“The pile-up was enormous,” he said. “I had never seen anything like it. I would guess approximately 50 vehicles were involved.” Initial reports were that at least 20 vehicles were involved.
The crash occurred amid whiteout conditions, with wind gusts recorded up to 79 km/h.
“We couldn’t even see the full scene because it was so long,” Davis said. “If I had to guess, it was about a third of a mile from front to back.”
The fire department worked with RCMP and paramedics to triage passengers, prioritize safety, and ensure everyone stayed warm.
“Safety was my number one priority for this incident, making sure that the ones that needed help were able to get help. The EMS supervisor was there. He worked alongside us, which was awesome. He was so, so good to deal with, and helpful. There was one EMS unit that was involved with the incident, but that was before we had got there.”
RCMP helped uninjured motorists and drivable vehicles reach the Town of Ste. Anne for safety. Davis, who is also a town councillor, arranged to use the local arena as a shelter.
“The vehicles that were able to drive, whether they were banged up or whatever the case was, they moved into Ste. Anne. They were escorted by the RCMP to the arena. There were some [motorists] that we needed to attend to [at the scene] where we had to move some vehicles in order to get them out of their vehicle. We ended up using one of our trucks and another police vehicle to transport these people to the arena.”
The teamwork between first responders was a highlight for Davis.
“We worked together with the RCMP and the EMS and it seemingly worked very, very well. We had Steinbach Towing and Ste. Anne Towing on scene, which they ended up clearing out just most of the vehicles off to the side of the road so that we could clear the scene.”
The pile-up was cleared around noon. Davis and his team then assisted at the arena, helping people access medical attention or arrange transportation.
Davis reports there were around 5 people at the arena who requested medical attention and were transported to the local hospital.
He notes there were many others involved in the pileup who needed medical treatment and were transported directly from the scene.
“I'm not 100% sure on the number of patients that needed care. There weren't any serious injuries, which was a blessing right there. EMS was on scene, and they had numerous people in the EMS units.”
The fire department returned to service around 2:30 p.m.
Davis said he is proud of how his crew handled the crisis.
“They are tired. They worked hard. They did extremely well considering the circumstances there. I'm proud of them for everything that we went through. Things like this obviously make a group stronger. I'm very proud of the group that we have in Ste. Anne.”
- With files from Kenton Dyck -