Firefighters spend day cleaning up debris in Bow

Debris likely either swept down Calgary’s Bow River or, uncovered by the 2013 flood, has caused all manner of difficulties for rafters recently, and firefighters spent Tuesday on the water cleaning up.

The waters of the Bow were dropped low Tuesday to allow firefighters to remove the debris.

“We don’t know if this is something that was in the river pre-flood or if this is debris that was deposited here during the 2013 flood — either way I’m thinking the flood is a key piece here,” said Calgary Fire Department deputy chief Alan Ball.

“It either scoured the bottom of the river and then the rebar was revealed, or this is debris that’s come downstream during the 2013 flood and has been deposited.”

The debris has caught up at least eight rafts in the past week.

“We believe there was a piece of rebar less than a quarter of a metre under the surface,” Ball said.

“We want to create at least a good metre between where the rebar will be and the surface of the water once we return the Bow to its normal flow rates.

“We’re using a drone and still photography to try to get some good images of the subsurface of the river as well, to see how much material is in the river so our partners in the City of Calgary can develop a long-term strategy of removal.”

Ball said TransAlta assisted the operation by holding water back from its three dams upstream Tuesday to drop the river’s flow rates to near winter levels.

In an emailed statement, Trans- Alta said it was happy to help.

“After confirming with other agencies to ensure it won’t affect downstream river activities, we worked quickly to address this safety issue and started lowering the levels this morning so crews can work safely in the affected area,” the statement read, in part.

TransAlta said flow rates would return to normal by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, firefighters also spent Tuesday warning civilians on the river of what was happening. Ball said making sure their fun wasn’t disrupted was important and he believes they succeeded.

“We definitely don’t want to (negatively affect them) — there’s been very few days where Calgarians have been able to enjoy the river this summer due to all the rain,” he said.

CRYSTAL SCHICK Calgary Fire Rescue teams were searching for, and cleaning up pieces of rebar in the Bow River near Crowchild Tuesday. Over the weekend, rafters were getting sunk and stranded after their rafts were popped by the metal which firefighters think was...