Submitted by  Sgt. Darren Kakuno
Detachment Commander
Columbia Valley RCMP

This past week March 15 through March 21 the Columbia Valley RCMP responded to 57 calls for service. The following is a summary of some of the files our officers responded to.

•On Monday, March 15, at about 9:45 p.m., an officer conducted a traffic stop with a GMC Terrain on Subdivision Road in Windermere. The driver was discovered to be prohibited from driving and bound by court ordered conditions not to be in the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle or to have any contact with her passenger. The driver was arrested for breaching her conditions and released on an Appearance Notice to attend court at a later date. The vehicle was impounded for seven days. 

•On Tuesday, March 16, at about 3 a.m. Columbia Valley RCMP and the Invermere Fire Department responded to a report of a truck on fire on Westside Road near Wilmer. Upon arrival, the truck was fully engulfed in flames. The owner of the Ford F350 reported smelling plastic burning before smoke started coming from under the hood. The Invermere Fire Department quickly extinguished the fire and prevented it from spreading. No injuries were reported, and the fire was not suspicious.

•On Thursday, March 18, at about 3 p.m. Columbia Valley RCMP and East Kootenay Highway Patrol attended a single vehicle motor vehicle incident on Highway 95 near Edgewater. A witness reported seeing the driver of a northbound Chrysler Sebring begin to swerve on the highway before driving into a ditch. The driver was transported to the hospital to be assessed and to determine if a medical event may have precipitated the incident. 

•On Sunday, March 21, at about 7:30 p.m. Columbia Valley RCMP was advised that two snowmobilers had activated their two-way emergency communications device after becoming lost in the Catamount Glacier area. Columbia Valley Search and Rescue (CVSAR) mobilized a team of members on snowmobiles, in addition to a number of support personnel, to assist with the search. CVSAR team located the snowmobilers at about 12:30 a.m. The men were assisted off the glacier and assessed by ambulance paramedics as a precaution. Columbia Valley RCMP would like to thank our dedicated CVSAR volunteers who responded to this incident despite the deteriorating conditions.