'We have to pivot': Saskatoon ambulance gets stuck in ice ruts

While much of the snow is melting off roadways in the city, some ruts in residential areas have been causing issues for drivers and emergency crews.

That massive snow dump from two weeks ago is still being felt on city streets.

A photo posted to Facebook on the weekend shows an ambulance stuck in the ruts on Delaronde Road in the Lakeview neighbourhood.

Because of this, Saskatoon ambulances are equipped with tow ropes to ensure safety, according to Troy Davies with Medavie Health Services West.

“In dealing with Saskatchewan weather and the major snow events that are coming in March or anytime we have to pivot with the vehicles we have and we have full 4x4 SUVs,” Davies told CTV News.

There wasn’t a patient in the ambulance at the time of this incident, but there is a plan in the event a patient is involved in a delay like this.

“It’s the same as when we hit a train. If we’re stopped by a train, we have to send a second unit. It’s situations like that, where we might have a delayed transport time. In that case there wasn’t a patient, so it didn’t affect our transport time,” he says.

It was back during the snowstorm of 2007, the company implemented safety changes to deal with snow events moving forward.

“The rovers that are behind me right now were basically installed for when we have these; specifically for major snow events. They also respond to calls but learning from what we’ve learned after the last three major snowstorms that we’ve had basically these rovers were out following our ambulances after that big snow dump of 37 centimetres,” he said.

Even with the numerous ruts on Saskatoon roads, SGI isn’t seeing an influx of related claims yet compared to last year.

“We do often see people report collisions after they occur, which could be the case here,” SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy told CTV News.

Damage from a pothole is classified as a roadbed collision — that includes run-ins with ruts or ice built up on the side of roadways.

(Carla Shynkaruk / CTV News)

In an emailed statement, the City of Saskatoon told CTV News why it opted to leave ruts that were under 15 centimetres deep.

“Grading to the pavement would have greatly slowed down the process and created larger snow piles along roadways. We take off enough snow to prevent severe ice ruts deeper than 15 cm (6“) deep; this is the threshold the city also uses to trigger rut-shaving on residential streets.”

The city acknowledged that deeper ruts may have formed in some areas.

Anyone with concerns about ruts is asked to contact the city’s customer care centre. Someone from roadways will be sent to inspect.

The city is counting on more melting, with Monday’s daytime high of five degrees expected to significantly reduce ice ruts on residential streets.

But starting on Wednesday, temperatures will be below zero during the daytime, which will mean more freezing. Drivers need to be ready for a new set of potentially hazardous conditions.