Vancouver fire halls offering residents free salt

Vancouver Fire is offering residents buckets of free road salt due to cold and snowy winter weather that has made sidewalks and streets dangerously icy.

Vancouverites get free salt

8 years ago

Duration 1:04

Vancouver is offering its residents buckets of free road salt thanks to uncharacteristically cold and snowy winter weather at certain fire halls

10 fire halls will be offering free salt to residents of Vancouver Wednesday morning. The halls will be open from 9 a.m. PT to 8 p.m. today, and residents can take up to two buckets each.

Thefire halls are:

• Fire Hall #3 - 2801 Quebec Street
• Fire Hall #4 - 1475 West 10th Avenue
• Fire Hall #7 - 1090 Haro Street
• Fire Hall #12 - 2460 Balaclava Street
• Fire Hall #13 - 4013 Prince Albert Street
• Fire Hall #14 - 2804 Venables Street
• Fire Hall #15 - 3003 East 22nd Avenue
• Fire Hall #17 - 7070 Knight Street
• Fire Hall #19 - 4396 West 12th Avenue
• Fire Hall #22 - 1005 West59th Avenue

Jonathan Gormick with Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service said residents cleaned out four halls that received early shipments of salt Tuesday.

"We've already had to dissuade one eager customer from helping themselves to garbage pails from the back of a pickup truck," he said.

"We're hoping that everybody uses the honour system and takes an appropriate amount."

Gormick said each fire hall will be taking inventory of how much salt they receive and that there is a contingency plan in case any halls run out of salt early in the day.

• So your sidewalk is covered in a thick layer of Zamboni-slick ice. Now what?
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• 3 things Vancouver needs to do better when the snow falls

The City of Vancouver announced Tuesday more than 300 city staff have been redirected from their normal duties to address the problem of perilous streets and sidewalks.

Slip slidin' in Vancouver

8 years ago

Duration 0:57

Multiple doses of wintry weather have made some sidewalks and streets in the usually temperate city treacherously icy.

The City of New Westminster is also offering free sand outside its Engineering Operations yard at 901 1st Street.