A man in Canada saves his own life with scout skills

[eisely 13]

No comment really necessary.

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As he drove his snowmobile around in the swirling snow north of Radville early Tuesday evening, Paul Carles fought off the fear and remembered what he'd learned on a winter survival course he'd taken as a Boy Scout leader.

 

Get into shelter.

 

Get warm.

 

And keep calm.

 

With a grain bin and some matches "and a few prayers too!", he emerged safely from the sudden blizzard that hit Saskatchewan Tuesday -- one of many amazing stories that are now being told.

 

Radville Mayor Terry Calibaba said this little drama started around 3 p.m. Tuesday when word came that an RCMP cruiser carrying one member and two civilians -- themselves rescued from a marooned car -- was stalled on Highway 28, eight kilometres north of the town.

 

A rescue party was quickly assembled: two front-end loaders, four snowmobiles and a tow truck. The plan was to find the cruiser, then either return to town or seek shelter at Carles' nearby farm.

 

It took three hours, but the party arrived safely at the farm -- only to find Carles himself was missing.

 

He had gone on his snowmobile to show the rescuers where to turn, and had been working his way toward the cruiser when a powerful gust of wind hurled him and his machine right across the icy road.

 

"I don't know how, but I got turned around," he said in an interview late Wednesday afternoon.

 

The whiteout obscured all landmarks, but Carles -- in heavy snowmobile suit, helmet and boots -- kept moving, driving in straight lines in an attempt to locate the north-south highway and even checking the type of crop beneath him to find a field he recognized.

 

No luck -- until he found a grain bin, near which was parked an old truck and tractor. In them, he found a half-book of matches, some oil, an old Western Producer and a coat.

 

The bin gave him shelter and his Boy Scout training reminded him of the importance of staying awake. The oil, mixed with a little barley from the bin, went into a paint-brush pan and was set alight with the newspaper and matches. "I thought, 'if I'm going to be here, I might as well be comfortable.'"

 

Carles was by no means forgotten. As the evening went on, the volunteer fire department concluded a search would be too dangerous. "It was a long night," said Calibaba.

 

When the wind tapered off around 3:30 a.m., Carles restarted his machine, concluded travel still was dangerous and went back to the bin. "I figured I'd made one bad mistake already -- I wasn't going to make two."

 

He stayed there till first light Wednesday, reaching his home just as a rescue party arrived there.

 

With 12 hours of soot on his face, he's not sure some of the members recognized him at first. But his happy yelling convinced them, and what came next was "a lot of hugs and 'thank yous.' "

 

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That was by no means the only human drama Tuesday night. Calibaba said a man spent the night in his truck on a highway near Radville and two SaskTel workers hunkered down in a small building beneath a tower. "We got those three into town about 8 a.m.," he said.

 

RCMP Cpl. Brian Jones said there were "a number of people who were in their vehicles for an extended period of time" -- some of them on the edges of Regina.

 

All along the international border, "we had quite a few of our inspectors 'storm-stayed last night," said Debbie Johnson, communications officer in Regina with the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. "We had some travellers stranded at our ports as well."

 

At the CCRA offices near Regway and Estevan, "our inspectors made supper for everybody. At Regway, they even made popcorn. We always have supplies of food at the ports just in case."

 

A multi-vehicle pileup on Highway 39 between Estevan and Bienfait saw firefighters evacuate 25 people in a school bus.

 

Five people went to hospital in Estevan and were treated for minor injuries. Firefighters and RCMP also rescued people stranded in vehicles on Highway 18 near Torquay, and on Highway 39 near Hitchcock.

 

Several oil workers spent the night in a utility trailer at a drilling site near Estevan.

 

A report that a woman might be missing somewhere between Regina and Moose Jaw caused the call-out of a civilian search-and-rescue unit with snowmobiles from the latter city. When they failed to check in for several hours, RCMP began worrying about their own safety -- until word arrived that they had stopped for coffee in Belle Plaine before returning home, Jones said. Meanwhile, the woman was safe in Regina, having turned around in the face of the storm.

 

So poor was visibility that CKCK-TV, on the eastern side of Regina, did not air its 11:30 p.m. newscast. "It's happened before, but I'm not sure when," said reporter-anchor Jason Matity. "People couldn't get to work."

 

Global TV reporter Skye Ryan had a close call driving to Regina from Prince Albert on Highway 6. She even left early Tuesday morning in an attempt to beat the storm. But as it closed in, she looked in vain through the blowing snow for farmhouses or even an approach.

 

At one point, uncertain as to which side of the highway she was on, she stopped, got out, determined she was on the wrong side and moved her car.

 

Mere seconds later, an out-of-control car -- one of only three vehicles she'd seen on that leg of the trip -- sped over the spot where she'd been standing.

 

Fighting her way through snow, she reached Southey, which she recognized not by its buildings -- invisible in the storm -- but by a flashing yellow pedestrian light over the roadway.

 

"No hotel has ever looked as good as the Southey Hotel and Steak Pit," she said Wednesday.

 

Another hotel, Caronport's Pilgrim Inn, filled up quickly as the weather worsened Tuesday afternoon -- what assistant manager Diane Timmons called "walk-in and slide-in" business.

 

Several people from Caronport's Briercrest Bible schools set off for nearby Moose Jaw. Several quickly turned back; one man needed over an hour to cover only 20 kilometres. "Once he got there, he called back and said: 'Don't let anybody else try it!' " she said.

 

At the Regina International Airport, poor visibility cancelled 34 of 65 scheduled arrivals and departures Tuesday -- a ratio of weather-related cancellations operations manager Wayne Pidskalny has never seen in his 10 years at the airport.

 

Night found 13 travellers prepared to sleep on benches in the chilly terminal, using blankets and pillows loaned by SkyService. But just after 10 p.m., WestJet was able to land a Boeing 737, taking 10 of the travellers.

 

Normal airport operations resumed Wednesday.

 

 

[acco40 95]

Co-ed scouting didn't seem to hamper his Scout survival skills.

[Fat Old Guy 11]

"Co-ed scouting didn't seem to hamper his Scout survival skills."

 

I'm sorry but I don't see where it gives his age.