Three people are dead after heavy winter weather caused numerous collisions on highways across the Lac La Biche region. Over a three-day period starting Nov. 20, three separate accidents resulted in fatalities on Highways 881 and 36.
Three people are dead after heavy winter weather caused numerous collisions on highways across the Lac La Biche region.
Over a three-day period starting Nov. 20, three separate accidents resulted in fatalities on Highways 881 and 36.
The first fatal collision was on Highway 881 on Thursday night at about 11 p.m., approximately 20 kilometres north of Lac La Biche. A southbound pickup truck rear-ended a log truck, causing injuries to the pickup truck’ s 25-year-old male driver and 21-year-old male passenger.
The passenger, who was from the Lac La Biche area, succumbed to his injuries. Police say the accident was caused by poor road conditions from freezing rain, as well as speed. Alcohol has been listed as a possible factor and police are still investigating.
The second fatality occurred on Highway 36 on Friday night at 11:45 p.m., about 45 kilometres south of Lac La Biche. Two vehicles, a car and a pickup truck, collided head on, which started a vehicle fire.
The car’ s driver, a 38-year-old man from this area, succumbed to his injuries. Three others were also injured, one of whom was airlifted to Edmonton for treatment. Road conditions had improved somewhat by the time this accident occurred and police believe alcohol may have been a contributing factor.
The third fatal collision took place on Highway 881 on Saturday at about 10:30 a.m., approximately 140 kilometres north of Lac La Biche. The accident involved a pickup truck, a log truck and a semi-truck carrying fuel. Police believe poor road conditions caused by a heavy dump of snow on Friday night contributed to the accident.
An adult woman, who was an occupant of the pickup truck, is dead. Two others, an occupant of the logging truck and an occupant of the fuel truck, are injured. Police are still investigating the incident. According to people who were at the scene of the accident, logs from the log truck and fuel from the fuel truck spilled onto the road and caught fire.
Alvin Brockman, a Lac La Biche search and rescue worker who happened to be driving through the area, was one of the first on the scene and immediately began giving first aid to those involved in the accident.
“Everything’ s on fire. The highway’ s on fire because of the diesel fuel,” Brockman said, speaking from the scene shortly after the accident occurred.
This accident resulted in a stretch of Highway 881 being closed for most of Saturday.
Emergency responders say they have been attending the scenes of a “staggering amount” of collisions on the region’ s highways. One emergency responder was injured on Thursday when responding to another minor car accident, and many other accidents caused minor injuries and vehicle damage. The freezing rain on Thursday night followed by the heavy load of snow on Friday made road conditions very treacherous, and police have issued multiple warnings throughout the period urging people to stay off of local highways.
Police are urging the public to stay off the highways until further notice. Lac La Biche RCMP Constable Chris Clark says that drivers are putting themselves at risk in these conditions.
