Fire broke out in the Attic nightclub in downtown Timmins over the noon hour today. Firefighters from Timmins, Schumacher and Mountjoy responded quickly and were able to control the fire. The Attic is located in the old Victory Theatre building on Cedar Street.
For more community news about Timmins and area be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times.
The City of Timmins pled guilty to 11 of 22 Ministry of Environment charges today, according to Mayor Tom Laughren.
The remaining 11 charges were dropped and the city was charged $84,000 for the guilty plea.
Laughren said the infractions occurred between 2003 and October 2006, with eight of the 11 charges being at the McDonald Lake and Shaw Wells sites, which are now closed.
Laughren also noted that the charges revolve around equipment malfunction and technical requirements.
“There’s nothing wrong with the quality of water in Timmins,” said Laughren.
The cost of the infractions will come out of the water account. Laughren does not know if or how the charges could affect the water rates.
For more community news about Timmins and area be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times.
The fire knowns at Timmins No. 3 is still being fought and is up to 58 hectares in size. The status of this fire is not as urgent as first considered Wednesday, but it is still a serious fire. It resulted in the closure of Highway 67 for several hours.
The other big fire near Timmins is called Sudbury No. 46, south of the city. It too continues to burn but not as seriously as on Wednesday. It is approaching 1,000 hectares in size. Highway 144 was closed for a time between Timmins and Sudbury, but that highway is now open.
Highway 67 is closed and scores of cottages and campers in the area of Barbers Bay and Kettle Lakes Provincial Park have been evacuated as the result of a forest fire in the east end of Timmins. The initial call went out shortly after 2 p.m. today with response from municipal firefighters and Ministry of Natural Resources water bombers. It is expected the fire will be under control within the next 24 hours.
A Timmins man is facing drug possession and drug trafficking charges after Ontario Provincial Police pulled a vehicle over for an alleged traffic violation on Highway 101, in the city early Tuesday morning.
Police say they searched the vehicle and found a stash of 8 pounds of marijuana and more than $15 thousand in cash.
Police say 23 year-old David Serge Daigle is charged with trafficking in a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Daigle was initially held in custody for a bail hearing and then released. He is due to appear in court again on May 29 to face the charges.
Traffic was diverted for awhile on Algonquin Boulevard this weekend at work crews filled some old mining stopes below the roadway. It seems the sand backfill in the old mine workings is subsiding. Over the weekend, a fleet of concrete trucks poured "several thousand tons" of a sand & water backfill mixture into the stopes to ensure there are no unnecessary cave-ins. PJV spokesman David Bucar says the backfill is part of an ongoing program to ensure the safety and stability of old underground workings below the streets of Timmins.For more community news about Timmins and area be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times.
Emergency services in Timmins joined forces today to work on a search-and-rescue exercise in the city over the next few days. The exact location of the similated event is a secret for now, but it didn't stop Canadian Forces personnel from training. Several SAR Tech rescue jumpers parachuted over the airport from a Lockheed C130 aircraft. The 424 (Tiger) Squadron has set up shop at the Timmins airport and will be coordinating their rescue efforts from there.For more community news about Timmins and area be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times.
The newest OPP cruiser is in town already. On Friday, the Ontario Provincial Police will be unveiling it's newest cruiser with the new / old black and white paint scheme that was so familiar to Ontario motorists 25 years ago. We snapped this photo of the cruiser when it stopped at the lights by Highway 655 and Algonquin Boulevard in Timmins this afternoon.
For more community news about Timmins and area be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times.
There was some significant good news for The Venture Centre in Timmins today. The federal government announced more than $1.5 million in funding over the next 3 years. The funding, made possible by Industry Canada/FedNor, will support several different aspects of The Venture Centre’s work in the district which includes Timmins, Gogama, Foleyet, Mattagami First Nation, Shining Tree and Biscotasing. Some of the money will be used for coordinating an Export Development Program for the whole of Northeastern Ontario.
For more complete details, be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times.
Northern College Student Firefighter Kayla Amodeo, centre, gets a hand with her new hat and coat courtesy of Xstrata Copper's Kidd Creek Minesite fire department. Kidd Minesite fire chief Dave Dewar, right, holds the helmet. Wayne Shippam, coordinator of the college's Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training Program, helps with the new coat. Xstrata donated nine full sets of fire fighter bunker gear to assist the students in their training.
Emergency workers tend to a child who suffered injuries in a mid-afternoon accident outside Ecole publique Lionel Gauthier school in Timmins today. A police officer gathers measurements beside the child's bicycle. The matter is still under investigation by Timmins Police. Emergency workers indicated the injuries were not considered life-threatening. For more complete details, be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times .
The Fraser Institute Report Card for Ontario’s Secondary Schools has given less-than-glowing marks to some high schools in the Timmins area.
Four local schools were rated against a top score of ten points.
The Timmins schools in the Fraser list this year are École secondaire catholique Theriault with 5.9 points, Roland Michener Secondary School with 5.7 points, Timmins High and Vocational School with 4.3 points and O’Gorman High School with 3.6 points.
The rankings are based on information taken from Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The report covers 719 public and separate, English and French secondary schools.
The report also lists the overall school ranking compared to the other 719 high schools in the province. The Timmins schools were all in the bottom half of the ranking. Theriault was ranked at 460 out of 719. RMSS was ranked at 489. TH&VS was ranked at 621 and O’Gorman was ranked at 659.
The local high school rankings are in contrast to an earlier report this year when the Fraser Institute announced the Garfield Weston Awards for the best elementary schools in Ontario.
To see the full version of this story, look in your next copy of the Timmins Times this week.
HIGHWAY DEATH - Ontario Provincial Police report that 52 year old Gerry Lemire of Timmins died in a single vehicle automobile crash on Highway 101 west Tuesday evening. Police say Lemire was the lone occupant of a 2007 KIA vehicle. The crash occurred about 1.5 kilometres west of the Opishing River bridge in Sewell Township. OPP Forensic Identification officers are still working with Technical Traffic Collision Investigators to try to find out exactly how the crash occurred.
DRUG BUST - Timmins Police have laid drug charges as the result of a search warrant executed during a raid on a residence. Claude Rozon, 55, of Fifth Avenue in Timmins was arrested and charged with 2 counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking. Police seized the following items.
10 grams of Cocaine valued at $1,000.
207 grams of Marihuana valued at more than $4,000.
More than $5000 in cash and other drugs. Rozon was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court in July
For more complete details, be sure to check your latest copy of the Timmins Times this week.
Water levels on Porcupine Lake are rising with the spring thaw. Compared to previous years, the MRCA isn't very concerned about flooding.
Flooding has been occurring in some parts of Timmins because of the warmer temperatures. Kees Pols, the general manager of the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority, says no significant damage or inconvenience is occurring however. Pols says the MRCA is keeping a close eye on all waterways, on the weather and the snow levels in the bush. Property owners who live near shorelines are advised to remove all materials that might suffer water damage, or float away, in the event of high water.
Locked out Grant Forest Products workers will get some moral and financial support this week from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. OPSEU workers will head out to the Grant strandboard mill on HIghway 101 west in Timmins at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to lend support to the CEP workers who have been off the job for 8 months.
Highway 101 west in Timmins was closed at mid-morning after a two vehicle collision. Details of the collision have not been released but one vehicle was flipped onto it's roof on the south side of the highway. The other vehicle ended up in a clump of dense bush on the north side of the highway. Drivers were treated by paramedics and transported to hospital. For complete details, be sure to check your copy of the Timmins Times this week.
