the fob today as the rest of the North Shore celebrates Christmas. Pulling the Christmas Day shift not such a heavy load NEWS photo Paul McGrath NORTH VANCOUVER City Firefighters Tony Lidstone, (left), Andy Schmidt and Dan Hilton will be on N. Shore workers keep emergency Services running WHILE MOST North Shore residents will wake up this morning and begin opening their presents and exchanging Christmas greet- ings with family and friends, at least six other North Shore residents will be hard at work. By Surj Ratian News Reporter Four of those will be members of the North Yancouver City Fire Department’s C-shift. Firefighter Andy Schmidt, a nine-year veteran with the local fire department, said he doesn't mind having to work on Christmas Day. Schmidt, who is singie and without children, will be puiling double duty as he works from Christmas Eve to 6 p.m. Christmas Day. “Tt’s (having to work Christmas Day) OK. [t's your shift so you have to do it. “ll have my Christmas night with my mom and dad. The guys. who have kids should be off,”’ said Schmidt. Schmidt’s partner, Dan Hilton, who has worked with the North . Vancouver City Fire Department for 12 years, will also be pulling a Christmas Day shift. “I have mixed feelings about it. It’s nice to go out on Christmas. But the guys who are working start at 8 a.m. Christmas Day, and the guys getting off shift will usually stay an hour extra so the guys coming on shift can spend an extra hour with their family,”’ said Hilton. “J guess it takes away Christmas a bit.”’ Hilton said he will have a Christmas Day dinner with his girlfriend when he gets off shift. “It’s not too bad around here on Christmas Day. The mayor (North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks) usually brings in a big box of chocolates, but all the chiefs and the guys working on from @ Editorial Page @ Home & Garden — NEWS photo Cindy Gacdman LIONS GATE Hospital! maternity ward nurse Irene Callander (left) checks on 14-day-old Lukas Alexander Lynn as mother Hana Lynn looks on. Callander is one of several North Shore residents who will be working on Christmas Day. the day he comes in eat them all and there's none left for us when we come to work on Christmas Day,” laughed Hilton. Tony Lidstone, a 26-year veteran with the city fire depart- ment, said working a Christmas Day shift doesn’t bother him. ‘Al my kids are grown up. 1 used ta get Christmas Day off when my kids were younger,’ said Lidstone. Also working Christmas Day at the firehall will be firehall mascot and Lidstone’s dog Brandy. Firefighter Paul Bouchard, who has worked for the fire depart- ment for 22 years, said Christmas is just another working day for the fire department. “It’s just part of the job. I’ve always worked Christmas Day. My family knows it’s definitely part of the job for me,”’ said Bouchard. Added Schmidt: ‘‘All the guys from C-shift want to wish everyone a merry Christmas.’’ Another person who will be working Christmas day is Irene Callander, a. nurse in Lions Gate Hospital’s (LGH) maternity ward. “I don’t mind having to work @ Mailbox Paul St. Pierre i Trevor Lautens @ What's Going On Printed on 10% recycled newsprint on Christmas Day. | quite enjoy it in this area. Ill be business as usual here,”’ said Callander. She added that working Christmas Day is extra special because the maternity ward nurs- ing staff all try to guess which ex- pectant mother will deliver the first Christmas Day baby. “Tf you have to be working Christmas Day, this is the best place to work,”’ said Callander. Darrell Mussatto, a seven-year member of the B.C. Ambulance Service, will be working out of the North Vancouver ambulance sta- tion at LGH from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Christmas Day. Single and without children, Mussatto said he doesn’t mind working Christmas Day if it gives other ambulance attendants who are married with children the day off. “Pm really lucky because my parents are holding Christmas dinner until 7 p.m. so | hope we don’t -get any late calls,’ said Mussatto. He added that the ambulance members working Christmas Day will usually have a potluck funch with LGH’s emergency ward staff. Front page photo Paul McGrath Weather Saturday, rain, highs 6°C. Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 0087238 Friclay, December 25, 1992 - North Shore News - 3 Avalanche risk hampers search Little hope held out for man missing in Cypress Bow! area AVALANCHE CONDITIONS in an area where two out-of-bounds skiers went missing on Dec. 20 in West Vancouver’s Cypress Bowl area plagued search and rescue team members attempting on Wednesday to locate the skier who is still lost. On, Monday, 31-year-old Earl Kurz, of Coquitlam, was found in good shape by a cross-country skier at Cypress. Kurz and 34-year-old William Eugene Leboe of Westbank were skiing in an area known by sear- chers as the Austral’an Gully. An avalanche swept both away. Kurz was buried up to his neck. His fall was stopped by a tree. Leboe disappeared cascading snow. “Little or no hope is being held out that Leboe survived,’’ West Vancouver Police Cpl. Dick Clan- cy said. The search area is situated be- tween the 750- and 1,000-metre (2,460- to 3,280-foot) levels of the mountain. “The snow in this area is ex- tremely unstable, and there is a high risk of further avalanche,”’ said Clancy. On Tuesday, Kurz met with searchmaste:s back at the moun- tain. Although still suffering from physical anc! mental fatigue, he was able to show searchers where the pair were hit by the slide on Saturday. The area wits checked by sear- chers. No sigr of Leboe or his equipment was found. The area around the slide was checked, and there were no signs that Leboe escaped from the slide on foot. According to Clancy, it has been concluded that Leboe was buried in the snow at the time of the avalanche. with the By Michael Becker News Reporter Avalanche experts were called in Wednesday morning to assess snow conditions. North and West Vancouver Emergency Program coordinator Ross Peterson said the experts gave searchers a ‘‘marginal green light’ to continue the search on Wednesday with three dog teams backed by North Shore Rescue Team members. Said Peterson, ‘‘They’ll be prepared to dig if the dogs in- dicate. They have police dogs trained to sniff through snow. Some of these dogs are very good at this.” According to Peterson, the. safety of the searchers is the over- riding condition for a search to continue. ““A search can be suspended on that issue alone, but if they say certain areas present minimal risk we'll do what we can,”’ he said. Because avalanches and snow shimps are ongoing in the steep gully, it is impossible for searchers to determine the exact location of the avalanche that engulfed the two skiers. “These avalanches sort of fill in the gully. So even a small one can trigger a larger one. Even snow dropping off trees can trigger slumps down into the gully,’’ Peterson said. “It’s a very unstable mass of snow in many places. ’’ Ferry corp. drops 24-hour schedule from summer 793 A HORSESHOE, Bay Business and Community Association (HBBCA) representative said the group is pleased that the B.C. Ferry Corp. (BCFC) will not implement its proposed: 24-hour sailing plan for the 1993 summer schedule. The BCFC initiated its 24- hour ferry schedule between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo for a 75-day trial period on June 25. . BCFC spokesman Bill Bouchard said last Friday that the Crown corporation waz still reviewing plans to implement the all-night sailing schedule permanently. He said that no decision had been made to institute the schedule permanently, but that all-night sailings will not be implemented for the 1993 summer ferry schedule. Several groups, including the HBBCA, have objected to the all-night sailings. HBBCA co-chairman lan Dailly said that while he has not heard anything directly from the BCFC, he was pleas- ed that the 24-hour schedule will not go ahead next summer. By Surj Rattan News Reporter “It’s great news. [t sort of points out all of .our con- cerns,”’ said Dailly. He added that the West Vancouver Police Department told the group that the poiice had logged a higher frequency of alcohol-related complaints from the Horseshoe Bay area while the 24-hour sailings were operating this past summer. In a Sept. 4 News story, Bouchard said Horseshoe Bay residents and West Vancouver District would be consulted be- fore any final decision on the all-night sailings was made. “We've been getting com- plaints. and positive feedback on it, and those comments will all go into the final package,” Bouchard said at the time.