Thursday, April 17, 2014

Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires

It looks more like flooding season in most of New Brunswick--but the province is warning that forest-fire season in New Brunswick starts today and ends in late October.

Natural Resources Minister Paul Robichaud urging people to be careful and make sure fires are not carelessly ignited. The DNR encourages people to mulch, compost or haul debris to the dump instead of burning it. A burning permit from the department is required for most fires.

Grass fires are also a major concern in the early spring and can cause serious damage. For more information, click here

New Brunswick Soldier Faces More Sex Charges

A soldier based at CFB Petawawa, who reportedly went to high school in Saint John, is facing 18 new sex charges.

Police in the Ottawa Valley say there are several dozen more women who were potential victims and may not know it.

31 year old Corporal Derrick Gallagher is charged with eight new counts of sexual assault, nine counts of voyeurism and one count of assault. That's on top of the eight charges of sexual assault and two counts of voyeurism laid on April 1st.

Police say there are videos and they have been able to identify 18 women but there are more than 50 other women who have not yet been identified.

Gallagher serves with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment and did one tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Water Level In Fredericton Going Down

The St John River in the Fredericton area has risen higher than expected, due to the upper basin tributaries dumping larger volumes of water.

The water level exceeded flood stage last night at 7.35 metres and is receding with the expectation of being below flood stage by Saturday.

McMinniman Court, Jarvis Street, Timber Lane and Hazelwood at Riverside Drive remain closed. Boaters are also asked to stay off the river. Conditions are not safe and the river may have hazardous debris floating in it.

Sussex Single Mom Woke Up To Knee High Water

A single mom from Sussex living in a duplex near the river rolling out of bed to put her feet in water.

Wendy Inkpen says she has nothing now after the flood waters filled her basement apartment.

She tells us she stayed up til about 12:30am on Wednesday and didn't see any water and she woke up after 8am and swung her feet out of bed hitting the cold water and at that time the water was up to her knees.

Inkpen says the highest level was chest-high and while the water level has gone down her apartment is now full of mud.

$228,000 To Support Safer Organ And Tissue Transplants

The federal government has announced $228,000 in funding to support safer organ and tissue donation in New Brunswick, and across Canada.

MP Rodney Weston made that announcement this morning at Saint Joseph's Hospital on behalf of Health Minister Rona Ambrose, explaining the money will help develop a standardized process for collecting data on when something goes wrong with an organ transplant so that can be prevented in the future.

Saint Joseph's will be home to one of five pilot programs at sites throughout Canada.

New Brunswick's Eye and Tissue Bank is the only project of its kind in Atlantic Canada, and currently in this province, there is no system to collect data on adverse events related to organ transplants.


Photo: Corneas at Saint Joseph's Hospital

Police Get Report Of Man Armed With Rifle Near School

City Police converging on the area behind Simonds High after receiving a report of a man getting out of a silver van, taking out a bag and a mask as well as what appeared to be a rifle before walking into the woods.

Police questioned several teens who were going to meet for a game of paintball in the woods before finding the person they were looking for.

Regional Hospital To Get 3T MRI Scanner Soon

The first hospital-based 3T MRI scanner in Atlantic Canada will be installed at the Regional Hospital during the spring.

The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation announcing it will fundraise and donate $1.5 million to the project.

The 3T scanner can capture faster, more detailed images.
It's estimated the 3T scanner will increase patient output by 20 per cent and result in reduced wait times for MRI patients.

Premier Visits Flood Ravaged Sussex and Sussex Corner

Premier David Alward making the trek to Sussex and Sussex Corner to see first hand what sort of damage was caused by the flooding.

He has nothing but praise for those people who stepped up to the plate to make the best of a disastrous situation. Alward says he was blown away when he saw a photo of the flooded Tim Hortons in Sussex that was texted to him while he was at the funeral in Toronto of the late Jim Flaherty.

There are renewed fears of flooding in Perth-Andover. As a precautionatry measure, the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Perth-Andover has been evacuated and people who live in the low lying areas of the village are being asked to voluntarily evacuate their homes.

Mayor Terry Ritchie says of concern is a 40 kilometer ice floe above the village at Grand Falls. Tide News asked Ritchie whether any flooding, should it occur, be as devastating as it was a couple of years ago and he's not ready to discount the possibility. Ritchie is hoping for mild days and cold nights to ease the snow and ice melt.

Gas Prices Rise

Drivers who fill up with self serve regular taking a price hit after the weekly setting.

The maximum price rising by 4 and a half cents a litre and also an increase in the price of diesel with the max rising by just over a cent a litre.

Water Level Passes Flood Stage In Fredericton

The St John River in the Fredericton area has risen higher than expected, due to the upper basin tributaries dumping larger volumes of water.

The water level exceeded flood stage last night at 7.2 metres.

Parts of Route 8 near Durham Bridge have been closed due to high water levels and River Street is closed at Chase Street due to water and ice over the road.

Flood waters started receding in the Sussex area yesterday afternoon following extensive flooding caused primarily by heavy rainfall.

Mayor Marc Thorne says the worst point was between 10 in the morning and noonhour. Thorne describes it as the worst flooding he has scene in the town in a decade.

In Sussex Corner, a state of emergency was declared and people who got stranded were being rescued by boats. Doug's Rec Centre was particularly hard hit. You could see expensive trailers floating in the water and the Ward Creed covered bridge was washed away.

Route 124 into Norton is flooded and another route along Church Street is also flooded. To reach Norton, you will have to get there through Bloomfield or through Apohaqui.

Thompson Calls For A Local Committee To Handle Energy East Concerns

A controlled environment at the information session on the Energy East pipeline last night.

TransCanada personnel in white shirts easily outnumbering the general public during the last hour of the four hour event in East Saint John.

David Thompson of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick tells Tide News a Community Liaison Committee should be established for this project.

He says it can deal with any concerns in the Saint John area which will be the terminus of the pipeline and where the tank farms and ship unloading terminals will be.

Thompson says everyone involved would be invited to participate in this committee.


He tells us TransCanada seems open to the idea.