Two nearly simultaneous incidents on Friday, Oct. 10 sent emergency responders to both ends of Salt Spring’s long-running Fulford-Ganges Road improvement project at practically the same time.
And despite lunchtime traffic, compounded by single-lane alternating flows around construction sites on the island’s busiest road, crews from Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue (SSIFR), BC Ambulance and RCMP were quick to arrive at each, according to SSIFR Deputy Chief Dale Lundy, who said both Friday afternoon accidents resulted in patients being transported to Lady Minto Hospital.
The first call for help went out on behalf of a man whose mobility scooter didn’t successfully navigate the corner of Drake and Fulford-Ganges roads, Lundy said, carrying him into the newly excavated ditch — and impeding the rider beneath.
“[The scooter] had landed partially on him,” said Lundy. “Our crews extricated him from the ditch, provided initial care and supported BC Ambulance once they arrived.”
Lundy said he was less involved in response to the second scene — in which a pedestrian had “some interaction” with a vehicle at Fulford-Ganges Road’s intersection with Cranberry Road. That call came within five minutes of the first, Lundy said. A SSIFR member responded in their own vehicle, he added, and assisted BC Ambulance and RCMP with traffic and patient care. The patient was already loading into the ambulance when Lundy arrived, he said, and additional SSIFR resources were redirected back to the first scene.
Traffic was flowing again quickly after crews cleared each scene — at least, as much as it had been before.