It was a busy and somewhat unusual Tuesday afternoon for the Moncton Fire Department with not one, but two manhole calls.
The first was reported at around 1 pm.
Platoon Chief Brian McDonald says reports came in of manhole explosions and smoke at Church and Main Streets.
“When we arrived on the scene, we determined it was an electrical vault and an underground vault. That is like a big room, with electrical wires in it. There was a small fire burning in there, and it was creating small explosions and a lot of smoke, and it was blowing the cover-up and down. There was smoke coming out of the manhole, there was smoke coming out of the nearby transformer.”
McDonald says they immediately contacted NB Power, secured the area and kept it safe while they waited for the utility to arrive to investigate this electrical fault.
“I’ve seen the same thing happen before in my career, but it is not a common occurrence,” McDonald added.
A few area businesses lost power while the investigation was underway.
Meantime, around an hour later, while firefighters were still on the scene of this call, McDonald says they received reports of someone in a manhole in the Barker Street area.
“This was certainly a unique call. It fell into a new scope of practice that we now have in the Moncton Fire Department that deals with rope rescues.”
He says when firefighters arrived to investigate at around 2 pm, they could see footprints going into the manhole, but none leaving it.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to mobilize our rope rescue team, set up all of our rope equipment and tripod and lowered a couple of firefighters into the storm sewer. They searched as far down the piping system as they could to see if there was anybody in there.”
In the end, no one was located in the manhole. McDonald says Codiac RCMP later located the individual, and they don’t believe they had gone into the manhole as reported.
“It turned out to be a good training exercise for us, where we got to practice our new skill set. We have two stations that are specifically trained with the rope rescue skills, so both of those stations responded to the call,” McDonald stated.
With the number of new and unique calls the Moncton Fire Department has been dealing with as of late, including a fire in a high-rise apartment building, McDonald says it reflects the importance of regular training for the department and staying on top of it.
“It’s just part of the fire department evolving,” he adds.
On a point of safety, when it comes to manhole covers, McDonald stresses the importance of reporting issues to the City of Moncton.
He says if covers have been removed or have become dislodged, the City needs to be made aware because it can be very dangerous.
