BEATTY — The Melfort Fire Department responded to a rollover west of Beatty, but upon arrival were unable to locate the driver.
“We had it happen before, but a lot of times what happens is a passerby will pick them up if they’ve come out of the vehicle,” said Shaun Stewart, Melfort’s fire chief.
“I don’t know if somebody came across them, or if they left the scene on their own.”
Melfort Fire responded to the call on Oct. 30 at 9:35 p.m. Stewart said due to the icy roads at the time, the department had a delayed response.
“We had to drive to road conditions, that’s when the freezing rain came down the highway and it was extremely slippery going out there.”
Stewart said there are multiple reasons someone may leave the scene.
“That’s going to be different for every single person depending on how bad they’re hurt, or if someone happens to be right there and sees it and decides they want to go to the hospital right away,” he said.
“Some people actually leave the scene if we get there, possibly if the person has been drinking.”
Whether or not it’s the right thing to do to leave the scene before emergency services arrive Stewart said is on a case-by-case basis.
“If they’re hurt we’re hoping they’re not going to leave because then that makes us and RCMP and EMS who have all been paged out to the scene not knowing where they are,” Stewart said.
“If they do decide to get a ride there to the hospital, make sure when they get to the hospital that the hospital has ways of getting a hold of the RCMP and EMS as well.”
When crews arrived on scene, RCMP and emergency medical were just in the process of starting a search for the occupant of the vehicle.
With assistance from the department, they began perimeter searches in 10, 20, 40 and 80 metres. A thermal imaging camera was used in the search.
“Nothing was located in the throw area, if someone was thrown from the vehicle,” Stewart said.
“People just have to drive from the road conditions. Freezing rain, slow down. Now we’re coming up to the snow conditions, make sure you drive to the conditions of the road.”
