Around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, December 3, the Fort Frances Fire Department responded to a call at Walmart in Fort Frances concerning a worrying smell. Later that evening the department responded to a multi-vehicle collision on the Noden Causeway.
Interim Fort Frances Fire Chief Dave Robertson says the Walmart incident amounted to very little but the location required a full response given the potential for a poor outcome.
“It was barely even a minor incident,” Robertson said. “But with a big box store the response has to be robust, it’s almost automatically what we would call an all platoon response. You would have seen a level of organization there, we had a dedicated safety officer, dedicated incident commander and dedicated groups inside the structure and on the roof.”
It’s the potential for disaster that necessitated the full response.
“While we had a call for mystery odour that may or may not have been some level of smoke or burning rubber. We went in there, we don’t smell anything, our gas meters aren’t going off, our thermal imaging camera is not indicating any hot spots,” Robertson said. “Even then with the size of the store and the challenges with that level of fuel load, if there was even a small fire becomes a big fire very quickly if we don’t make 100 per cent sure that nothing is happening. We kind of make 110 per cent sure which is why we were there for a fair bit of time and it looked like there was a lot of activity. That activity was about checking and rechecking again.”
Robertson says the crew that attended the incident at Walmart did their jobs with excellence.
Late yesterday evening the Noden Causeway was closed around 9 p.m. when several vehicles including a snow plow were involved in a collision.
According to a statement from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Fort Frances Detachment of the OPP along with Rainy River District Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Fort Frances Fire Rescue, and Couchiching Fire Rescue responded to a three vehicle collision on the Noden Causeway east of Couchiching First Nation.
“A vehicle attempted to pass a snow plow and lost control, colliding with two other vehicles. Five people were treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The highway was shut down for approximately one hour while emergency services worked the scene,” the OPP statement reads.
A 25 year-old male driver from Thunder Bay was charged with one count of careless driving and is scheduled to appear in court in Fort Frances on Feb. 6, 2025.
Robertson says that his understanding is that the vehicle was traveling west on the Causeway when it attempted to pass the snow plow at the top of the causeway. Based on what he was told Robertson summarized the accident.
“He clipped the snow plow… and ended up head-on into a vehicle going East,” Robertson said. “There was some minor extrication required, I understand that they were able to reach inside the car and unlock it from the inside, so it wasn’t like serious extrication efforts were needed.”
According to the OPP report five people were brought to hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Robertson says that many accidents simply come down to speed of travel. As in this instance the driver didn’t want to go slow behind the plow and tried to pass in an area where there is no passing allowed.
“Every accident comes down to speed,” he said. “Every accident comes down to the ability to react. The faster you go the less reaction time you have. This was about somebody wanting to go faster apparently.”
Conditions yesterday were snowy and windy making for poor visibility at times. As hazardous weather continues throughout the winter driving season, 511Ontario carries highway and road condition information available online or by phone.