HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1977-02-02, Page 1{
FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1977
Price Per Copy 20 Cents
Over 40 area accidents reported by OPP
Over 40 accidents have been
reported to the Exeter OPP
since Thursday, although the
detachment officers have been
unable to investigate many of
them because they just couldn't
get cruisers through to the crash
scenes.
OPP Cpl. Ray Brooks said it
would be impossible to estimate
the amount of damage in the
crashes. He said that fortunately
there have only been three minor
injuries reported.
Several of the situations have
been listed as multiple collisions,
meaning that three or more
vehicles have been involved. On
Friday, nine vehicles were in-
volved inone accident near the
THE WORK MUST GO ON — Adverse weather conditions haven't
stopped the progress on the new electrical units in the Zurich arena.
Above some last minute installations and are
by McKinley
com-
pleted. photo
Fuel running Iow
At least two people in the
village have been getting up at 5
a.m. these past few days to
brave the stormy weather, the
snow plow driver and Doug Erb,
Zurich representative for Arrow
Petroleum.
Mr. Erb has been making his
rounds to farms out of the village
by. -following the snow plows and
so far he has managed to keep
the people in the area supplied
with oil.
If the plow can get through,
Mr. Erb will deliver the oil but
as of Monday things were becom-
ing a little more difficult.
One family who lives on the
14th west of. Zurich called Mr.
Erb to say they needed furnace
oil and their road was so blocked
they estimated it could take as
long as Friday to get it cleared.
At last report Mr. Erb had in-
formed the family they could use
diesel fuel in- their oil furnace
and if it was only used for a few
days no damage would be done to
Community
Centre report
Due to the weather conditions
there will be no list of Communi-
ty Centre contributions this
week. There are contributions
still to come but many of the can-
vassers have no way of getting
their lists into the Fund-raising
Committee.
the furnace. Since most farms
have a fairly .large supply of
diesel fuel available, there
should be no problems keeping
everyone warm until the storm
ends.
Most farms using furnace oil
carry a three to four week supply
in their tanks.
Stanley roads
"still there"
"The Stanley township roads
haven't been that bad according
to township clerk Mel Graham.
Mr. Graham said most of the
township roads were open
yesterday at some time or other
but heavy drifting blocks them
up a few hours after the ploughs
go through.
Mr. Graham said the township
will need at least 24 hours of good
weather to get the roads cleared
and winged back properly, but
that length of time will be ex-
tended if the weather continues
to be stormy.
The main problem seems to be
the weight of the drifting snow.
Winds are blocking the roads
with high drifts of heavy snow
which makes the job of the
snowplows very difficult.
In summary Mr. Graham said,
"The roads of Stanley township
are still there, and as long as you
stay off them they are OK!'
Kirkton Road on Highway 4. Five
of the vehicles in that mix-up
subsequently became involved in
another accident.
Highway 4 has been the scene
of the majority of the crashes
and on several occasions it was
closed down by police. At times
it was necessary to close the
highway to provide police of-
ficers and tow trucks an oppor-
tunity to clear the road.
Where accidents have oc-
curred and the police have been
unable to attend, the drivers
have been advised to exchange
names and then get in touch with
police as soon as possible.
Another problem plaguing the
OPP is the large number of calls
from people wanting to know
road conditions. Cpl. Brooks ex-
plained again that the detach-
ment does not have.information
about district roads and this in-
formation should be garnered
from the ministry of transporta-
tion and communications.
He noted that calls of this
nature tie up the OPP telephone
lines and they are then not
available for people who may be
in emergency situations.
The OPP had one of their
cruisers out of action for over
one day. Constable Larry
Christiaen was dispatched to in-
vestigate a school bus accident
south of Crediton on Friday and
became snowbound. The officer
was picked up on Saturday by
another cruiser but the vehicle
wasn't dug out until Sunday.
Despite repeated warnings
about the hazardous driving con-
ditions, people still attempted to
reach various destinations and
many became statistics.
Police advised•most people to
stay where they were if at all
possible.
Area CB radio enthusiasts aid-
ed in providing traffic informa-
tion and road conditions and
snowmobilers assisted in check-
ing abandoned vehicles to make
certain their occupants had
managed to get to safety.
Home owhers along most
roads opened their homes to peo-
ple who had become stranded.
Police estimate it will be some
time before the accident
statistics for the blizzard are
finally totalled.
Zurich ambulance braves storm
The Westlake ambulance has
been very active throughout the
stormy weather of the past few
days. As Robert Westlake ex-
plained, In weather like this
ambulances are used in less than
essential cases due to the safety
factor. They have brighter
lights, sirens, are up higher and
are equipped with a radio."
At about midnight Sunday
night the ambulance was called
to the Zurich rest home to make
an emergency run to St. Joseph's
hospital in London. It took the
services of the Huron County
plow and some friendly local
snowmobilers to get the am-
bulance into the rest home due to
heavy drifting. At one point even
the snow plow was stuck.
The ambulance was successful
in getting the patient to London,
but Mr. Westlake said No. 4
highway was in very bad shape
with only one lane open. •
Last Friday the ambulance
was unable to reach the scene of
an accident on No. 4 highway
near Brucefield due to weather
conditions and the number of
cars littering the highway. The
victims of the accident were
rescued by an ambulance from
Seaforth.
An example of the ambulance
crew "helping out" occurred on
Friday when a Zurich resident
became stranded in Hensall. As
the weather had cleared up
somewhat at the time the am-
bulance made the trip to Hensel]
in short order and were within a
mile of Zurich on their return
trip when the full force of the
storrn hit them and visibility
dropped rapidly to nil. Mr.
Westlake said it took them close
to half an hour to go the last mile
as they had to take turns walking
in front of the ambulance to
make sure they did not go off the
road or hit someone.
Monday morning the am-
bulance was to deliver a patient
to Exeter for Dr. Wallace and
again faced the dangers of No. 4
highway. Visibility was so poor
Mr. Westlake said there was a
head-on collision directly in front
of the ambulance. Luckily no one
was seriously hurt and the am-
bulance did make it through to
Exeter.
Mr. Westlake said the am-
bulance radio went continuously
last Friday as there were
numerous accidents all over the
entire area, and people just
would not seem to stay off the
roads.
Snowmobiles used on
Hay township roads
Residents of Hay township are
advised to make use of snow-
mobiles where possible and
forget trying to drive anywhere
according to Hay Township Road
Superintendent Karl Haberer.
Mr. Haberer said Monday
there are no roads clear in the
township and with visibility nil
and heavy drifting there is no
way to get them cleared.
The township has been trying
to systematically open the roads
to allow fuel to be delivered and
milk removed from the dairy
farms, but the heavy snowfalls
and poor to nil visibility are
hampering the progress of the
opening program.
Mr. Haberer said the province
has stated it will take a week to
get the roads under their
jurisdiction back to normal and
that is after the storm stops. In
Hay township Mr. Haberer says
the conditions are just as bad and
without the machinery available
to the larger areas such as the
county and province it will take
two weeks of good weather to get
the roads back into decent shape.
"It's an emergency situation",
says Mr. Haberer "and there's
nothing we can do about it."
No problems
for MC
Zurich has been "pretty lucky"
so far according to PUC
manager Charlie Eckel. He says
the storm has caused no
problems at all with either the
water or the hydro in the village
as of Monday afternoon, and he
hopes the good luck continues.
NO SCHOOL AND LOTS OF SNOW -- School children in Zurich haven't had too much school lately as
weather conditions forced schools to close. These kids took advantage of the unexpected Psnoowyh oli McKinley
have some fun with a snowmobile and caboose. kb►