BANFF – The Banff Fire Department has seen an increase in call outs to accidents on Highway 93 South with the various closures of the Trans-Canada Highway during construction in Kicking Horse Pass east of Golden.
The local department was dispatched and first on scene for a head-on motor vehicle collision on Highway 93 South three kilometres south of Storm Mountain Lodge at about 9 p.m. on Saturday (Dec. 18).
“One of the vehicles, from what I understand, drifted into the northbound lane and collided head-on, so two vehicles were involved, and they collided quite abruptly,” said Silvio Adamo, Banff’s fire chief and director of protective services.
“The weather and road conditions were definitely challenging. There was compact snow on the road and it was snowing.”
Seven people were injured in the two-vehicle accident.
Most were taken to Mineral Springs Hospital in Banff, but an eight-year-old child was taken to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary with multiple injuries.
The fire department responded with two command vehicles and two fire engines, with a total of 14 personnel.
“We were first on scene and we had a paramedic with us on one of the command vehicles,” said Adamo. “It was all hands on deck to assist.”
The fire department was quick to begin triaging patients and began working closely with Banff EMS, which arrived shortly after. Ambulances came from as far away as Priddis, about 160 kilometres away.
“As ambulances started to come on scene, we were packaging patients by priority and getting them to ambulances and transported to various hospitals,” said Adamo.
Crews kept patients in their vehicles to try to keep them as warm as possible as temperatures plummeted.
“It was quite cold,” said Adamo. “As we were getting ETAs coming in from various ambulances, we would try to time it so that when an ambulance pulled up on scene, we would have a patient loaded in the ambulance in a few minutes trying to provide the best level of care we could.”
Adamo said all patients complained of pelvic and back pain, likely due to the abrupt impact of the head-on collision, and six were put on backboards.
“Fortunately, the airbags deployed and everyone was wearing seatbelts,” he said.
Traffic along Highway 93 South has increased substantially with the temporary closure of the Trans-Canada Highway due to construction in Kicking Horse Canyon just east of Golden to twin Canada’s main transportation artery.
When the closure is in place, all traffic is diverted at Golden, via Radium Hot Springs through Kootenay National Park along Highway 93 South to Banff and vice-versa.
Parks Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure did multiple road safety audits of Highway 93 South in the lead-up to the highway twinning project, which got underway earlier this year.
“Our call volume down 93 South because of the Kicking Horse construction has definitely increased significantly,” said Adamo, noting the department has attended several scenes involving transport trucks.
The Banff fire department also attended a collision on the Trans-Canada Highway near the Minnewanka interchange on Sunday evening (Dec. 19).
“We had an eastbound vehicle lose control and barrel-roll over the concrete jersey barrier where the highway is divided and struck another westbound vehicle,” said Adamo.
“Thankfully, there were no serious injuries.”
The recent accidents on Highway 93 South, as well as other motor vehicle incidents on the Trans-Canada Highway, have led to calls for drivers to be extra careful and drive to road conditions over the Christmas holidays.
“We’re seeing a lot of holiday traffic and folks really need to pay attention to road conditions and drive to those conditions – it’s winter,” said Adamo.
“In the event of getting into an incident or getting stopped for several hours because of an incident, be prepared with water, food and warm blankets – all things you should have in your vehicle.”
Overall, Banff Fire Department’s call volume is starting to rebuild from a peak in 2019 of close to 700 to about 550 by the end of 2021. Roughly 70 of those are motor vehicle incidents.
