With over three and a half million visitors passing through Banff’s park gates last year, it’s vital for local emergency response agencies to effectively communicate and coordinate in life or death situations.
Lake Louise Fire-Rescue, is “fortunate” in knowing these relationships are strong, said Fire Chief Keri Martens, and there have been “no issues here at all” when multiple agencies response to an emergency.
“The fact is that we have a good relationship with local RCMP, we do joint training with Parks Canada Initial Attack crews and have a great relationship with Banff EMS and Banff Fire; it’s always been really well done and never any problems,” Martens said.
Numbers for Lake Louise’s Emergency Medical Responders (seven), and Emergency Medical Technicians (two) are the best in nearly a decade, said Martens, but the small department hasn’t gone without its challenges in responses.
When the pager beeps and they’re rushing off to a scene, sometimes it’s hard to know if there will be enough people to fill the trucks, she said.
“We always know when our members are working at their full-time jobs so we can kind of gauge (when they’re able to respond)… there’s a lot of times we don’t have a really great turnout and that’s just our challenge,” said Martens.
The Lake Louise fire department covers from the B.C. border to Castle Junction and approximately 125 kilometres up Highway 93 to the Jasper National Park boundary.
The department receives about 200 calls per year. Most are attributed to medical responses or highway incidents. In perspective, other local fire departments such as Banff and Canmore receive roughly around 500 calls each per year, and Exshaw over 200.
The sheer volume of motor vehicle traffic in Banff National Park can be overwhelming in its peak tourist seasons. The national park saw a 10.4 per cent increase in tourist visitation last year.
In an August video uploaded by Exshaw Fire and Rescue, firefighters got behind the lens of their response truck as it steered through a heavy volume of traffic on Highway 1 en route to a serious crash. The video highlighted the challenge of some motorists being slow to respond to emergency vehicles trying to maneuver around them.
Martens, who’s been chief in Lake Louise for 13 years, explained the simplest method motorists should follow when they’re in the path of an emergency vehicle.
“On a two lane road it’s pretty simple,” said Martens, “pull off to your closest shoulder and stop and let us go by. If it’s a single lane road, just pull over to the right and just stop on the shoulder.”
