It was a busy Sunday last weekend for the Lacombe Fire Department and other area emergency services.
Lacombe Fire Department responded to three motor vehicle collisions throughout the day.
Lacombe Fire Chief Ed van Delden said first of these accidents was a single vehicle rollover on RR 272 near Township Road 401 between Lacombe and Blackfalds. A single vehicle had left the roadway and upended itself.
The fire department responded at approximately noon and assisted medics in extricating one patient who was then transported via ground ambulance to Hwy. 2A where a landing zone could be set up for STARS Air Ambulance.
STARS was unable to respond directly to the accident scene because there was no suitable landing zone in the area.
The Lacombe Fire Department and the Blackfalds Fire Department both provided assistance in setting up a landing zone for STARS and maintained a perimeter until the patient could be transferred from the ambulance to the STARS unit and transported to hospital.
Later that afternoon, the Lacombe Fire Department as well as the Lacombe Police Service and Blackfalds RCMP were dispatched to a two-vehicle collision on Hwy. 12 near Gull Lake.
Two vehicles had collided with each other at the intersection of Hwy. 12 and Hwy. 792.
Two of the occupants were transported to hospital via ambulance but no extrications were required.
A third collision took place on the QE II Hwy. north of Hwy. 604.
The Lacombe Fire Department was dispatched and responded to the scene but passed command of the incident to the Ponoka Fire Department upon their arrival as the collision was in Ponoka’s response area.
Road conditions are not believed to be factors in the collisions as roads were dry and road conditions ideal throughout the weekend. However, congested summer highways, compounded by the closing of the Calgary Stampede, may have been contributing factors.