The Airdrie Fire Department (AFD) was called out May 20 to assist with a situation involving a 13-year-old boy trapped by the rail tracks on the CP Rail line near First Avenue at Fletcher Village, according to Deputy Chief Garth Rabel.
“Two young men were walking on the tracks – which is both illegal and extremely dangerous. To the north of Fletcher Village, there’s a very low bridge that the tracks go over and there’s a gap, an abutment between the north and south side of that bridge,” he said. “For whatever reason, it looks like the young man’s leg went into that hole and, once it went in, it wasn’t easy to bring it back out without injury.”
Rabel said CP Rail was immediately contacted and a request was made to close that portion of the rail line. The request was granted and firefighters moved in to free the boy. The rail line was closed for approximately 15 minutes.
According to Rabel, firefighters had to go to some lengths to free the boy.
“The other young man raised the alarm and got our teams there,” he said. “Once the teams arrived, they had to stabilize the young man and then put a bar down to ensure it wouldn’t pinch him anymore.
“One of my guys went down underneath – because you can go underneath that bridge as well – and took the pressure off from below. Then they took the jaws-of-life – or spreaders – and very slowly spread that apart until the young man was able to take his leg out.”
Once the boy was freed, he was transferred to the care of EMS.
“In the end, the Airdrie Fire was able to assist him out and he was uninjured,” EMS Spokesman Stuart Brideaux said. “He wasn’t transported to hospital and was left in the care of (his) mom.”
Rabel said the situation could have turned out a lot differently.
“Municipal Enforcement was on scene and the young man was given a bit of an understanding of the danger (of walking on the tracks),” he said. “He wasn’t charged with anything. The outcome could be much worse than any charge. We do want people to understand that (walking the tracks) is not a safe practice at all. It is trespassing. It is illegal. More importantly, it is extremely dangerous.”
