Hope Nahorniak called 911 Wednesday night after a pedestrian was struck in a hit-and-run collision.
“I ran out the front door and this fellow was outside, not moving at all, boots right off. One boot was about 10 feet down. The other was in front of my house,” said Nahorniak.
Emergency services were dispatched, but not all crews made it to the 23rd Street and Avenue Q scene. The first responding fire truck was blocked by a train on 22nd Street West.
Another truck was dispatched from the other side of the rail crossing, delaying the fire department’s response time by over one minute. The first truck never made it to the scene.
"We lost about a minute and a half in the response in being blocked by the train, redispatching another apparatus, and then responding to the call," said assistant fire chief Morgan Hackl.
The delay could have proved costly, Hackl said. Time is precious in emergency situations.
"There's always value. Every second counts for emergency incidents."
The man who was struck by the vehicle was taken to hospital where he remains in critical condition. A 24-year-old man is facing charges of impaired driving causing bodily harm and failing to remain at the scene of a collision in relation to the incident.
"If we had all been held up at this incident, it could have been a concern," said Hackl.
Mayor Don Atchison wasn’t in the city Thursday to comment, but he is part of a national railway safety working group. He’s repeatedly made calls for changes to rail lines in the city, citing emergency situations like what happened to the fire department Wednesday night.
CP Rail said they do notify local authorities when a train will be blocking a crossing for more than five minutes. The fire department said they hope for a better solution to avoid delays in the future.
