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Vol. 120, Issue 132
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Page 9
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Wildfire smoke offers positives and negatives
GAS LINE RE-ROUTED
BY VALERIE ROSSI
the 100-odd fires sparked daily in July. Trail's poor air quality may be The total number of active fires keeping most indoors, wishing over the last couple of days has the smoke would clear. decreased to 180 from But the heavy haze some 200 across the “The smoke has residents are experiencprovince. been so dense ing is, in fact, good for That said, smoke the region, according remains a top chalit has actually to Kevin Skrepnek, BC lenge both for visucalmed some of Wildfire Service's chief ally identifying new the fire activity fire information officer. blazes and impacting “The smoke has been air quality. we’re seeing, so dense it has actuDr. Kamran particularly in ally calmed some of Golmohammadi, a Southern B.C.” the fire activity we're medical health officer seeing, particularly for Interior Health, KEVIN SKREPNEK in Southern B.C.,” he joined the conversasaid via teleconference tion to add his insight Monday afternoon. to the current condition across the “The smoke almost takes on province. the same quality that cloud cover The main health concern, he would," he added. said, is the particulate matter that “So it's absorbing some of the remains suspended in the air for an heat that normally would be com- extended period. ing out of the ground from the “(The) major concern is the parsun but also trapping a little bit of ticles that are extremely small in humidity closer to the ground.” size, 2.5 micrometers or smaller, He attributes the decrease in in diameter because they can lodge fire activity partially to the smoke deep in our lungs and cause respicoverage, pointing to only two new ratory and cardiac problems,” he wildfires started Monday, eight explained. from Saturday, which is far below See SHEEP, Page 2 Times Staff
Trail plugging into electric highway plan BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
Installing electric car charging stations in downtown Trail is not just about providing power to one or two motorists – it's all part of a bigger picture. Politicians representing communities from Princeton to Fernie have long advocated to promote the 650-kilometre stretch of Highway 3 as an electric vehicles corridor. Trail and Grand Forks are the most recent cities to sign on with the Sun Country Highway Municipal Destination program – and that's good news for Andrew Chewter. Chewter commutes between Nelson and Teck Trail Operations in
his electric vehicle called a Nissan Leaf. He's passionate and well informed on electric power versus fossil fuel, and writes about the cars, travel plans, and charging stations on his website KootenayEVFamily. ca. “Commuting every day, I looked at how much gasoline I was going to consume and for a number of different reasons I didn't want to support purchasing gasoline if I didn’t need to,” said Chewter. “We have so much hydroelectric in the Kootenays, and export our hydroelectric elsewhere, so it's really neat to be able to drive by the dams everyday – it's kind of like the 100mile diet for my car.” See COMPANY, Page 3
GUY BERTRAND PHOTO
Workers from FortisBC were busy digging space for a new gas line in downtown Trail on Monday. City crews discovered an existing gas line passed through the sewer line at Pine Ave. and Farwell St. To prevent dangers from any possible leaks, FortisBC re-routed the gas line underneath the sewer line.
C o l u m b i a P o w e r is a place of great potential - a place where our employees shape their community and their future everyday. Visit columbiapower.org to learn why Columbia Power was named one of bC’s Top employers for 2015.
Contact the Times: Phone: FineLine250-368-8551 Technologies 62937 Index 9 Fax:JN866-897-0678 80% 1.5 BWR NU Newsroom: 250-364-1242 Canada Post, Contract number 42068012