Canadian Forces help rescue residents from cold homes

A Canadian soldier from the Acadian Peninsula helping victims of the ice storm in the region says she has rescued people suffering from hypothermia in their homes.

Aviator Suzanne Roussellbegan going door-to-door Monday in the Pointe-Sauvage and Le Goulet areas. She said the goal was to check if people were well andif they weren't too cold. As a result of her visits, she helped three people with hypothermia.

"I was taking their temperature. Those that were around 35 or 35.5 degrees, because the normal body temperature is 37 degrees, we tried to direct them [to a shelter]," she told Radio-Canada.

• Day 11: Nearly 1,250 in N.B. still without power in freezing temperatures

Roussellsaid they worked with a volunteer who took them to the warming centre in Lamqueto take hot showers and warm up.

"Subsequently, the city co-ordinated to try to place heat in the house," she said.

Two people died from carbon monoxide poisoning and 42 people were hospitalizedafter a severe ice storm blew through New Brunswick Jan. 24 and 25. At its peak, the storm left 130,000 customers without power across the province.

Afterthe ice storm, some residents resorted to using generators, space heaters, barbecues and camping equipment as a source of heat inside their homes.

So cold could see breath

But others had no alternate source of heat.

Roussellsaid it wasso cold in some houses that she could see her breath. In one house, the temperature was 0 C.

She added all people she visited wereco-operative andalways greeted her with a big smile.

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In many cases, says Roussell, those who needed help the most were elderly people who did not ask for help. That's what surprised her most during the week.

"They're very embarrassed. They have always been independent and are not used to being helped. They are accustomed to fending for themselves. That's what people explained to me," saidRoussell.

Progress can now be seen on repairs to the hydro poles and lines andRoussellsaid many are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

As of 6:20 p.m. AT, there were about 620 customers without power on the Acadian Peninsula.