PembinaValley

It was a full test of capabilities as Altona/Rhineland Emergency Services (ARES) partnered with Imperial Oil for a live training exercise at the tank farm near Gretna last week.

Fire Chief Greg Zimmerman explained, they ran through a fuel tank over-fill scenario in real-time.

"Imperial Oil employees notified everybody at the company and had that line shut down so it would stop over-filling. They called 9-1-1 which paged out to ARES and we responded."

Growing up in Souris, Emily Tuttosi loved rugby, and the star has taken that love of the game around the world, and is representing Canada at the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Starting in Souris

Going back to the beginning of her journey, Tuttosi can't remember a time where she didn't love the game of rugby. "Thankfully, Souris school had a youth rugby program," she says with a smile. "My older brother played, and I have a twin sister, and we both were pretty aggressive, so it seemed like a good sport to try. 20-some years later, here I am."

In the Pembina Valley, summer means festival season. 

From the early favourite, the Carman Fair, to the Harvest Festival in Winkler and the Altona Sunflower Festival (to name a few), each weekend-long occasion provides opportunities for bustling community spaces, lively music, and the food that defines summer.  

Something else the region’s festivities share is that they couldn’t happen without a large number of volunteers and workers who are instrumental to their processes. 

Greenvalley Equipment is inviting the community to sing loud and proud this fall with the launch of the GVE Anthem Contest, starting September 1. The contest, called “Your Voice, Our Song,” encourages local musicians, families, choirs, and anyone who loves music to put their own spin on the official Greenvalley Equipment anthem.

Winkler Police responded to a report on August 2nd of fireworks being launched from a vehicle travelling along Main Street. 

Police Chief Ryan Hunt said officers were initially tied up with another traffic stop when they first heard fireworks in the area. A short time later, a report came in of a vehicle driving down Main Street and shooting fireworks out the window. The complainant was able to provide a description and licence plate number. 

Canada changed its BSE surveillance after lower global incidence of ‘mad cow disease’ led to international standards shift

Canada’s agency for food safety is encouraged with cattle industry response to a new, more farmer-friendly approach to BSE surveillance.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) updated national bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance program — put in place earlier this year to meet new international standards — has received 152 samples of risk material as of Aug. 11, it recently said.

Massive storm in southeastern Alberta causes significant damage to crops and reported deaths of livestock

The numbers are still coming in for the cost of the damage caused by a huge hail storm that hit various areas of Alberta Aug. 20.

The storm ripped its way through vast swaths of land from Cayley, Milo and Brooks to the Saskatchewan border, as well as Camrose to the Viking, Edberg, Sedgewick, and Hughenden areas.

Manitoba Agriculture released its latest weekly crop report on Tuesday, offering a snapshot of harvest progress and crop conditions across the province. Cereal crop specialist Anne Kirk, who is compiling the reports this month, says harvest operations are moving forward despite recent weather challenges.

Altona police have recovered the motorcycle stolen out of Plum Coulee that we told you about last week. 

On August 20th, police received a complaint of a stolen 2024 Honda Grom motorcycle from a home in Plum Coulee. Security camera video showed two people walking away from the area, pushing the motorcycle.

Four days later, on August 24th, police learned the motorcycle was at a property in Emerson. 

"So, we drove around town looking and, eventually, it was determined which property it was at," explained Police Chief Dan Defer. 

No one was injured in a vehicle fire near Carman Tuesday afternoon.

The Carman Dufferin Fire Department was called to Highway 13, north of Carman, around 3:22 p.m. after reports of a semi on fire.

Fire Chief Chris Lemky says the semi was fully engulfed in flames when they arrived on scene.

"We got a couple crews out with a hose line and got the water going right away," he explained. "We had the tanker too just in case we needed more water. They were able to get after it right away and put it out fairly quickly."