CALGARY Whipped up by high winds and fuelled by dry conditions, a second grass fire in northwest Calgary burned late Thursday afternoon. The fire, which began at about 3:30 p.m.,poured smoke into the air for a wide distance in the community. Calgary police shut down 144 Avenue between Shaganappi Trail and Symons Valley Road N.W. but it appeared that no homes were at risk. They advised residents to avoid the area for the time being. Nevertheless, the smoke and flames caused some concern for area residents like Roxane Howey. It s really unnerving that the smoke becomes really dark for a moment and then really light, like it s consuming some kind of fuel, she told CTV News in an interview. We have a neighbour across the ridge from us and we re watching which way his flag is flying. If it changes, I am out of here.
LETHBRIDGE It s been nearly three weeks since Lethbridge Fire Department s newest recruits started their training. The LFD is hoping this fresh batch of hopeful firefighters will help fill an urgent need in the department. Of late, we ve had quite a few recruit classes in, just trying to fill retirements and people leaving, said fire training officer Mark Matheson. We also have a new station opening up this summer, so we have a great need of staff. The new station, Fire Station No. 5, is set to open in late June on the west side and they re hoping a good portion of the recently trained recruits will help staff it.
CALGARY Heritage Calgary is putting several historic artifacts up for auction with all bids starting at a dollar and by far the largest items are eight concrete cast bison heads. Josh Traptow is the executive director of Heritage Calgary and says while they re not the original 1916 bison heads that adorned the Centre Street Bridge, they are still pieces of art crafted by a local sculptor from a bison that lived at the Calgary Zoo. They absolutely still have historic value, said Traptow. The intricacy and the detail on these bison heads is amazing and they sat on the bridge from 1983 to 2000.
CALGARY There have been almost two dozen new cases of COVID-19 found among workers at Loblaws and Sobeys stores, the two companies have confirmed. Both Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Sobeys Inc. have been tracking the number of positive cases in workers at their stores since the beginning of the pandemic. They ve also been working with public health officials to make sure that customers are kept safe. Where required, we will communicate with customers who have shopped in the impacted location, with store signage, outlining our steps to manage the situation, Sobeys wrote in a statement on its website. We will make every effort to update this information in due course and as information becomes available to us, following the guidance of Public Health.