Shortly before closing late on a Friday last fall, I went to the municipal hall to express my safety concerns about a number of dead and dying birch trees that lined a portion of Hardy Road.
I was worried that with four school buses a day passing that there was a real danger of falling limbs. Though it was closing time two of our staff came and we brought up on a map where the suspect trees were and I was told that they would look into it the following Monday with our staff arborist.
The following Monday I received a call that after a site inspection they had determined the there was a real risk to public safety and that a remedial tree removal crew had been hired.
Not two weeks after the work was completed Agassiz had its first wind event — strong enough to snap the top 30 feet off the top of a fir tree on our property.
Then the outflow winds started! Three mature evergreen trees on our place were blown over, one of them across Hardy Road.
Under very harsh cold and wind conditions our municipal workers came and cleared the downed trees on Hardy Road to ensure access for emergency vehicles in case they might be needed..
I would like to commend our staff and crew at the municipal hall and the works department for not only ensuring that public safety is a priority but that during the worst of the destructive outflow winds when the rest of us were huddling beside our fireplaces trying to keep warm, they were outside working to keep our roads open!
Well done I say — well done!
We are lucky to live in a small municipality where we know who our local heroes are.
-Claude Bouchard, Agassiz
news@ahobserver.com
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