An evacuation alert was ordered for the hamlet of Chinook in southeast Alberta, after a fiery multi-vehicle crash that killed one person and injured eight others on Tuesday.
The collision happened on Highway 9 and Range Road 72 between the hamlet of Chinook and village of Cereal around 3:30 p.m., RCMP said.
A witness at the scene said a tanker truck and multiple vehicles at a construction site were on fire.
The evacuation alert was issued at 6:18 p.m.
“Do not stay in an evacuated area,” the alert read.
“There is smoke and emergency crews in the area and caution must be used when traveling in the region. Persons evacuating this area should take their medication, blankets, sleeping bags, personal identification and documents if possible.”
An evacuation centre has been opened at Youngstown Community Hall.
1 dead, others seriously injured
EMS confirmed that one person was dead, one in life-threatening condition, two in serious condition, and the others were suffering from minor injuries.
The person in life-threatening condition was being taken by STARS air ambulance to a Calgary hospital, and another in serious condition was being taken by HALO in a fixed wing aircraft to Medicine Hat.
Drivers are being asked to avoid the area and Highway 9 is closed between Oyen and Youngstown.
Traffic is being rerouted eastbound to Highway 884 and westbound to Highway 41.
EVACUATION ALERT for the Hamlet of Chinook (AUG 20, 6:30pm): Everyone in the Hamlet of Chinook must evacuate immediately to Youngstown using HWY 9. Those displaced are to report to the evacuation centre at the Youngstown Community Hall. Follow <a href=”https://twitter.com/AB_EmergAlert?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@AB_EmergAlert</a> for updates. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ABemerg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#ABemerg</a> <a href=”https://t.co/outCSjylvf”>https://t.co/outCSjylvf</a>
—@YourAlberta
Jordon Christianson is the chair for Special Area #3 — the region under the emergency alert. He said the evacuation was issued as a precautionary measure due to the flammable nature of the material in the tanker truck.
Christianson said residents of seven homes have fled for the nearby village of Youngstown.
Emergency crews are on scene and a hazardous materials team was en route to the site as of 6:30 p.m.
‘It was horiffic’
Linda Nothing drove past the crash shortly after it happened — she said she’d passed the same tanker earlier on the highway but had stopped for a bite to eat at a truck stop.
“About 10 minutes into my drive is when I came upon that scene,” she said. “I saw the smoke as I was driving toward it, and it got blacker and blacker I thought it was maybe a brush fire … it was horrific. It’s a horrific scene.”
The crash comes roughly two weeks after another fatal crash at a nearby construction site, east of Oyen.
An 11-year-old child was killed and four members of his family hospitalized after a crash involving two semis and an SUV.
One of the semis had stopped for construction and the SUV stopped behind it when a second semi hit the family’s SUV.
Oyen is just east of Chinook and Cereal, and just west of the Saskatchewan border. It’s roughly 300 kilometres east of Calgary.