Downtown: Target announces nces date to close at Haney Place ce Mall. 3
Art Time, light and Arts: ha harmony for Friends. 14
Community: Safe rides home now year-round. 5 We d n es d ay, M a rc h 2 5, 2015 ¡ mapleridgenews.com ¡ est. 1978 ¡ (office) 604-467-1122 ¡ (del i ve r y) 6 04 - 46 6- 6 39 7
Medical grow not wanted in Whonnock Residents concerned about ground water By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Some 300 neighborhood residents packed Whonnock Lake Centre on Monday to declare their opposition to what would be one the largest medicinal marijuana grow operations in North America, in the rural area of east Maple Ridge community. They said the 97,000-square-foot greenhouse project would threaten a limited supply of groundwater, could bring a criminal element, could pollute a salmon-bearing stream, will lower property values, and would be out of place in the residential area. There was also frustration that the process had kept them in the dark about the project – some said they were lied to about the nature of the operation, told it was for silviculture. Daniel Sutton, CEO of Vancouverbased Tantalus Labs, stood at the microphone and calmly tried to answer their questions, and listened while they vented frustration. Harold Mischke said his property overlooks the proposed structure. “Hello neighbour. I wish I had never seen your face. Simply because it’s the wrong place. Not because of what you’re doing – where you’re doing it,� he said. “We’re going to put you on notice, we will not go away. This is just the start, and the gloves will come off,� he added, to applause. Klaus von Hardenberg, who started the Thornhill Aquifer Protection Study, studying groundwater in the area known as the Grant Hill aquifer, said even small wells can drop water levels in neighbouring ones. See Grow, 3
Barry Brinkman/Special to THE NEWS
Firefighters used ladders to rescue tenants from their balconies at Sunrise Apartments in Maple Ridge early Saturday.
A close call at Sunrise Firefighters rescue tenants from balconies B y M i ch a e l H a l l newsroom@mapleridgenews.com
A
s flames surrounded them, firefighters lifted fallen debris off an elderly woman trapped on an apartment balcony Saturday morning and carried her down a truck ladder to safety. She was one of several such rescues made by Maple Ridge firefighters as they responded to an initial call, around 6 a.m., of an explosion at the Sunrise Apartments, 22292 – 122 Avenue.
More than 100 tenants are now without a home. The city’s emergency response team and other community organizations are assisting them, as the apartment building is now uninhabitable. Multiple calls to the fire hall followed the first one. Flames were visible at the rear of the building when firefighters arrived, said chief Dane Spence. Many tenants were able to escape through smoky hallways, but others were stranded on their balconies. Firefighters used ladders to help three down from their third-storey apartments. They
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were able to transport an elderly man in a wheelchair down a stairwell. Then they heard “a very faint call for help,� Spence said. Drywall from the ceiling had fallen on a elderly woman, who lay trapped halfway on to her balcony. “She had some mobility issues,� Spence said. “She really couldn’t assist the crews as they carried her down the ladder.� Spence added that the operation was harrowing for firefighters – one complicated in that the older four-story building did not have sprinklers. A municipal bylaw requires
that all new apartment structures or replacement ones have them. Firefighters from Pitt Meadows assisted those from Maple Ridge on Saturday. They got everyone out safely. TransLink provided a bus to keep tenants warm and dry at the scene. A number of tenants were taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation and shock, according the Ridge Meadows RCMP. All have been released, and none were seriously injured. All occupants of the apartment building are temporarily without a home. See Fire, 4
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