‘There’s people ready to help’: Winnipeg neighbours help fire truck stuck in the snow

Sage Creek residents helped dig out emergency vehicles that got stuck in the snow during Thursday’s blizzard.

When an emergency struck a Sage Creek, Man., neighbourhood in the midst of the blizzard, community members were quick to grab their shovels and help out.

It started as a quiet Thursday morning on Wood Sage Crescent for Nelson Camp and his family.

“We were all a little bit surprised when school was cancelled,” he said.

But the quiet morning took a turn when one of his kids noticed a fire truck on their street.

“It wasn’t too clear what was going on, but what we could see is the tires were spinning,” Camp said. “I quickly realized, wow, they’re stuck. I didn’t even know a fire truck could get stuck, but there was a lot of snow.”

Camp said one of his neighbours had a medical emergency and needed an ambulance. Though the ambulance arrived, it wasn’t able to drive down the street due to the snow.

So, Camp and his 12-year-old son grabbed their shovels and went out to help, but they weren’t alone. Camp said when they went outside, about a dozen other people had come to lend a hand.

“That was a lot of work, but it was great. Everybody came in,” he said. “People were speaking different languages. We’re all from different backgrounds… so it was great to see everybody from the community contribute and work together.”

Together, Camp said the group of neighbours cleared a path down the street for the paramedics to get their gurney to the house.

When the ambulance was safely on its way, Camp said the group turned its attention to the firetruck.

He said it took about 45 minutes of shovelling to finally get the fire truck out of the snow.

“They’re always the first ones to come and help us when we need help. So it was great that we were able to contribute and help them,” he said.

With the fire truck free from the snow, one might think the community’s good work was complete. But Camp said the group of impromptu Good Samaritans wasn’t quite done yet.

“We all kind of looked at one another,” he said. “One of my neighbours that’s well into his senior years, nobody even said anything, we all just kind of got together and did his driveway for him… that was great, just to see that there was one last step, that everybody wanted to participate and help someone else out.”

Camp said he doesn’t know how his neighbour, who required an ambulance, is doing now. He said his family’s thoughts and prayers are with him.

He said the whole experience left him with a restored faith.

“There’s still some things that we can all get behind together as humans and support one another and recognize when somebody needs help. There’s people ready to help,” he said. “That really encourages me that there’s good things still happening.”