Sub-Zero Temps Keep Local Companies Busy
Prince George, B.C. – The lengthy cold snap Prince George has been experiencing has tripled business for at least two local companies.
“We’ve been crazy busy,” says Ray Maland at Fraser Plumbing and Heating. “We’ve been getting no heat calls, frozen pipe calls.”
He advises it’s best “make sure your furnace is working” before the temperatures plummet. Maland says it’s also a good idea for owners of mobile homes “to check their heat tape.”
He says having tape on pipe is important because the pipes come from underneath the trailer and are vulnerable to cracking.
It’s also been a busy week for Ron’s Towing on First Avenue.
“It started Monday morning right when the cold weather hit,” says dispatcher Ashley Clarke. “And as it got colder throughout the day we saw our calls increase.”
She says the calls varied from people locked out of their vehicles to those who forgot to plug in their block-heaters and needed a boost.
“We’ve even brought in extra drivers and they’re working around the clock.”
Clarke notes people have been patient with her drivers though, something she appreciates.
“I just want to say thank-you to everybody who has called. They’ve been very patient in all of this as they’ve had two to three hour waits but still offered our drivers coffee and treats to say thanks.”
And as Environment Canada meteorologist Ross MacDonald notes, the cold weather isn’t going anywhere soon.
“We’re certainly locked in to a bitterly cold and deep Arctic air mass,” he says. “We’re not really looking at too much in terms of precipitation in terms of snowfall the next week but in terms of cold temperatures we can expect it to continue on at least through the middle of next week with daytime highs of minus 21, minus 22 and overnight lows dipping down close to minus 30.”
Comments
Talking with the kid, We went to school as long as the busses ran back in the 70’s. Schools never closed. I remember standing out there in 40 below, waiting for the school bus.
Listening to kids these days, whining about how tough it is for them. I think we are raising a bunch of whossies.
Sure I am getting old and don’t like so cold, that’s because I’m old and the blood is thinned out because of pills. But I remember going outside in the -40 C/F, playing in the snow. Even ten years ago, gloves were an option.
I agree He Spoke!
I went to elementary school in the beginning in the mid 60’s. Our school was out in the country and it never closed, except in cases where the furnace quit. Families usually only had one car and it was with Dad at his job.
Those of us who lived close enough to the school walked to and from school every day, in my case it was about a mile and NO, it wasn’t uphill both ways, haha!
We didn’t have anything close to the high tech warm and dry clothes that are available these day. I remember Mom wrapping our faces with dish cloths as we didn’t have scarves. We wore several pairs of wool socks inside our plain black rubber boots.
Today, drive by any school in town in the morning or at the end of the school day and what will you see? A line up of idling cars, all too often driven by overweight parents dropping off or picking up their again all too often overweight kids.
What with global warming and warmer clothes, why is there such a long line up of cars picking up or dropping off kids?
This cold weather seems to have had a drastic effect on this city’s biking population!
Yesterday I was out and about running errands, shopping and the like and I couldn’t help but notice that our usually JAM-PACKED bike lanes were completely deserted! I never saw a single rider out there enjoying the safety of their dedicated bike lanes, or any other lanes for that matter!
I thought for sure that I would have seen Jillian out there somewhere, ripping around on her studded bike tires and peddling to her hearts content, but nope no sign of her anywhere!
I’m back downtown this afternoon. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for her. Sure hope she’s ok!
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