An incident in downtown Moncton involving falling ice could have been a lot worse.
Moncton Fire blocked off part of Queen Street for several hours on Saturday.
Large sheets of ice fell from the Bell Aliant tower, causing extensive damage to two vehicles.
“There were people in the car, so they were extremely lucky because it could have been a different story. The fire department set up a perimeter until crews could come in and take the ice off the tower. That took around four to five hours,” Chief Conrad Landry said in an interview.
He says it’s not something the fire department has commonly dealt with before, but the rapid warm weather, causes the ice to begin to melt.
“If it falls from 10 stories or 20 stories, it’s going to go faster as it goes down, and it’s going to do damage. There’s a certain point there’s potential for injuring people,” Landry says.
He adds it’s important that everyone is vigilant, especially with the winter we’ve had this year.
“We need to take the proper precautions. You’ll see that sometimes there’s some building owners will put a sign or close the sidewalk temporarily, just as a precaution to let people know to avoid the area,” Landry says.
He recommends if you see ice that could be a potential danger, that you try to contact the property owner first unless it is a situation like the one with the Bell Aliant Tower.
“In this particular case, 911 was appropriate as it did damage and nearly injured people. But in non-urgent situations, call the non-emergency line to report, and we can send crews there to assess the area,” Landry adds.
