Sunday. August 4, 1991 - North Shore News - 3 Photo submitted 'T TOOK an hour and a half for a West Vancouver Fire Department rescue crew to extricate Ray Thomas from his crushed vehicle Tuesday. The Squamish man was airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital where he was treated for lacerations and received 68 stitches. Man eludes death on highway RAY THOMAS has a se- cond chance at life after facing death on the Squamish Highway Tuesday. By Michael Becker News Reporter ‘ Said Thomas, 37, ‘‘I feel so very, very lucky. Boy, I’m a mew man now.”’ A five-ton Ford truck demolished the car Thomas was in after the truck driver suffered a seizure at a single- lane construction area near M Creek. Thomas was trapped in the “I feel so very, very lucky” for car for an hour and a half while a West Vancouver Fire Department rescue crew under- took the delicate job of lifting the truck from the crushed Mercury Lynx driven by the trapped Squamish man and then cutting away the back of the car to remove him. Thomas was airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital where he was treated for lacerations and received 68 stitches. He walked away from the car-crushing experience without a single broken bone. Whistler truck driver Paul Olufson, 34, was transported to Lions Gate Hospital observation. Said Thomas, “I could see him coming and he wasn't stopping so I said, ‘Well this is it.’ 1 just took my feet off the floor, put them up on the seat and just rofled over. I curled up into a little bal] there. As soon as rolled over, the bumper of the truck went into the windshield and it was over my head, dragging me about 100 yards down the road.’’ He instinctively covered his head with an arm. “The metal frame on the windshield hit my arm and I got a big laceration on my arm instead of my face,’’ he said. Whereas many who face death report that their lives “‘flash’’ before their eyes or that immediate events appear to move in slow motion, Thomas remembers other thoughts: ‘‘All [ was thinking about was let me go fast and quick and let someone look after my kids.”’ He had been on his way to Squamish to visit with his three children, age six, four and two, after a day’s work at Lions Gate Hospital. ‘I’m separated and | see them every other day and every other weekend. It was my day, i went up there and this thing happens,’’ Thomas said. NVC Council bans propane storage NORTH VANCOUVER City Council has banned propane cylinder storage and sales at service stations located within the municipality. Council voted Monday night to advise Shell Canada and ICG Propane that the city does not support the operation of a pro- pane cylinder storage and sales program. The municipality is ask- ing the companies to remove the non-complying installations at two city service stations. On June 17 council heard a del- egation from ICG Propane. The Burnaby-based company supplies fuli propane tanks to gas stations participating in a cylinder ex- change program. Propane users, such as opera- tors of propane-fuelled barbecues, drop off empty cylinders at par- ticipating gas stations and pick up cylinders filled off-site by trained and experienced personnel. Under the program up to 30 full cylinders were allowed to be kept at any one station. : By Michael Becker News Reporter ICG set up the cylinder-ex- change program in North Van- couver without first checking with the city because the provincial Gas Safety Branch advised the com- pany that no municipal permit was required to cover the opera- tion. Propane handling and storage is covered by the provin- cial agency. After hearing the delegation, council asked for staff and fire department reports on the issue. The ICG Propane repre- sentatives emphasized the recycl- ing benefits from the cylinder ex- change program. But in a staff report to council, development services director Fred Smith said the argument missed the point. Said Smith in the report, ‘‘The issue at hand is safety as it would be impacted by the sale and storage of propane.’’ But recycling coordinator Allen Lynch advised council that he supported the program, pointing out that it could promote the re- use of old tanks and reduce the distance full tanks were transpor- ted by consumers. But in a report to Smith, North Vancouver City Fire Department acting chief Frank LeGros said the fire department did not support the cylinder exchange program because the city was not able to control the amount of propane stored at a site. LeGros also emphasized that no permits are required from the Gas Safety Branch to install the pro- gram at service stations. He said that without a system of permits the cylinder exchange operations might not be regularly inspected and the city would not have to be apprised of where the exchange programs were operating. Council’s move ‘this week to shut down the Shell-ICG cylinder exchange program follows a deci- sion made by council in 1988 to prohibit the sale and storage of dangerous goods. On Sept. 25, 1986, a 2,000- gallon propane tank located at a North Vancouver City Pay-N-Save gas station burst into flame. Fire gutted the gas station. Council subsequently im- plemented the Propane and Natu- ral Gas Amendment bylaw in Oc- tober of 1988. LeGros said the bylaw essentially prohibits service stations from storing and selling liquified petroleum gas, propane and natural gas. WHILE ONE of the two North Vancouver-based grain elevators had record July grain shipments, a shortage of railcars along the waterfront hampered shipments at the area’s other grain terminal. By Surj Rattan News Reporter Figures released Thursday by the Grain Transportation Agency, which is responsible for the movement of grain in Canada, showed North Vancouver's Pio- neer Grain Terminals Ltd. was one of three Vancouver-area grain elevators to set 2 new grain- loading record for July. . Pioneer shipped 237,153 tonnes of grain last month. Its previous record was 211,525 tonnes, which was shipped in May 1990, Pioneer sales manager Bill Mooney said most of the Port of Vancouver's grain clevators en- joyed a banner month in July. He added that the forecast for the remainder of the year looks good. “The port is enjoying a large shipping program and the railroads have performed in shipp- ing the grain,"’ said Mooney. But he said that Canadian Na- tional (CN) Ruil did not provide Pioneer with as many railcars as the elevator had asked for. “Indications are that the pro- gram will continue to be heavy. The word bumper is being tossed around. But all it takes is one cald frost to damage the prairie wheat crops,’’ said Mooney. But Keith Broeder, Vancouver- area manager for North Van- couver’s Saskatchewan Wheat Poo!, said his grain elevator did not have as good a July as it could have had. “We did not have a record month. We probably had about three-quarters of what we normal- ly would have had,"’ said Broeder. “The problem lies with CN Rail. They’re having trouble getting enough cars to us on the North Shore.”’ Broeder agreed with Mooney’s forecast of strong grain shipments for the remainder of the year. CN Rail spokesman Marian Robson said part of the problem lies with the mix of grains CN transports. She said CN handles about 70% of the canola seed volume that passes through the Vancouver port and that Saskat- chewan Wheat Pool ships only a small amount of canola seed. ‘We have had some difficulty providing perfect, perfect service to Saskatchewan and Pioneer because we have major physical constraints on the North Shore. We're moving a_ tremendous amount of volume from the North Shore,’’ said Robson. ‘‘We've set up a committee to work on cor- recting the problem.”’ In total, Vancouver-area grain elevators shipped 1,415,182 tonnes of grain in July, surpassing the previous record of 1,264,934 ton- ngs set in 1988. ene eee eee reer ee erence ee ee ee Te a eS Index 18 36 36 @ High Profiles Comics @ Horoscopes 8 Lifestyles § Spiritually Speaking @ Travel Second Class Registration Number 3885