Quote originally posted by TeamNFG
Please read, and think of the families, and the small mining town of four thousand who lost thier fellow towns men.
From the Calgary Herald, Dec 30, 08
SPARWOOD, B.C. — They were best friends. They were sons, they were husbands and they were fathers.
The deaths of eight men who were buried in a pair of avalanches in British Columbia on Sunday have left a gaping hole in their hometown of Sparwood, B.C., a community that is now trying to rally around the victims' families.
The residents of the small mining town were united in their grief Tuesday as the final victim's body, that of Danny Bjarnason, 28, was recovered from the snow outside Fernie in southeastern B.C.
Randy Roberts, a spokesman for the victims' families, fought back tears Tuesday as he spoke of the men.
"They were a great group of kids, from when they were born, right up to yesterday. I knew everyone of them," said Roberts.
Roberts said his daughter and Bjarnason had been together for 12 or 14 years.
While speaking, Roberts doffed his baseball cap and offered a message to the other grieving families.
"My hat's off to you," he said, his voice breaking. "Keep your heads up. If you want, come to my house and we'll all meet."
Teck Coal, the mining company where half the victims worked, has offered two company houses for out-of-town relatives to stay. The local grocery store, has stocked the houses with food so the family members don't have to shop when they arrive in town.
Mayor David Wilks has opened two trust accounts for the eight families, and how the money will be spent will be determined by the grieving relatives.
The mayor is also meeting with a local funeral home to discuss the possibility of a group funeral, so the eight men who died together can also be put to rest together.
Whether the community will hold a mass funeral will ultimately be up to the families.
On Tuesday night, the town of 3,618 residents mourned at two memorial services for the men. That came on the heels of a candle light vigil Monday night.
Sparwood is essentially a one-industry town, where most people either work for one of the five coal mines in the area, or in one of the many spinoff industries that support them.
Half the victims in Sunday's avalanche were employees of Teck Coal, which has stepped in to offer assistance to their families starting by making housing that the company owns in Sparwood available to visiting family members.
"For us it's a blow as well," said Nic Milligan, a Teck spokesman.
"Our focus has certainly been on offering support to the families and community where we can."
Milligan said Teck's human resources department has also mobilized counsellors to be available for employees or family who feel the need for grief counselling.
The men who died have left behind widows and children both young and grown.
Killed in the avalanche were: Bjarnason, Leonard Stier, 45, and his son Michael Stier, 20, Warren Rothel, 33, Thomas Talarico, 32, Kane Rusnak, 30, Leonard Stier, 45, and his son Michael Stier, 20, Kurt Kabel, 28, and Blayne Wilson, 26.
Leonard Stier was a family man — married to Suzanne and the father of two children, Michael, 20, and Lana.
"Suzanne meant everything to him," said Sparwood Mayor David Wilks.
Both father and son died in the avalanche.
The elder Stier was a foreman in mine operations at Teck's Elkview mine 15 kilometres outside Sparwood.
Michael, known as Mikel to his friends, is being remembered for his outgoing personality, his love of off-roading and his devotion to those he cared about.
"Mikel was the sweetest guy I have ever met," said Jessi Hurley, a close friend.
He was a student at College of the Rockies and was serving a work term, also at the Elkview operations.
Warren Rothel leaves behind a pregnant common-law wife and two young children.
The man had actually survived three other avalanches before dying in the slides Sunday.
His young son is starting to ask his mother questions of what happened to his dad, said Rothel's brother, Barry.
"She doesn't know how to tell him."
Thomas Talarico was a supervisor in the warehouse at a Teck mine. He was originally from Fernie, according to Sparwood Mayor David Wilks.
Kane Rusnak's family was well-known in the town of about 4,000 residents.
The mayor of Sparwood remembered him as a polite young man with a love of the outdoors.
"Good old Kane," said David Wilks. "He loved his four-by-four."
Rusnak leaves behind a son, Joey, as well as his parents, sisters and several nieces and nephews.
Blayne Wilson was remembered Tuesday as a mechanic who could fix anything.
In his spare time, he liked to ride his horse as well as his snowmobile.
Sparwood's residents not only worked together, they played together, going out on weekends to explore the breathtaking wilderness that surrounds them.
"You look out and there's miles of unbroken snow," said Ross Powell, the minister at Sparwood Christian Centre. "When you're up the mountain, you can see for miles."
And while some explore the area on skis — or, like Powell, in a four-by-four truck — snowmobiles are often the vehicle of choice.
"Not everybody can ski," said Powell. "But you can hop on a snowmachine at the edge of town and away you go."
Snowmobiling is so popular in town, said Powell, that many residents feel it could have easily been them caught in Sunday's snowfall.
The mayor said right now everyone is grieving in the town.
"It's pretty amazing what's going on here," Wilks said. "The mood in town is pretty sombre, just walked through the mall. There are people reminiscing and hugging."
The incident happened just two days after the Canadian Avalanche Centre issued a special avalanche warning to recreational backcountry users in B.C.'s south coast and North Shore regions for the weekend.
The Fernie Alps and other high snow areas in the South Rockies have seen over 80 centimetres of new snow in the last few days.
The Canadian Avalanche Centre says that, from 1978 to 2007, an average of 11 avalanche fatalities occurred per year in Canada.
Last winter season, 18 Canadians were killed in avalanches. The worst year on record was the 2002 to 2003 season, when 29 Canadians died in avalanches. Before that, in 1997 and 1998, there were 21 deaths.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Be carefull out there
My sympathies to all effected, and god speed
