Since Sunday, AMA has received 45,000 calls for services, compared to the 1,700 the organization receives on a typical January day.
Brandon Klassen, spokesperson for the Alberta Motor Association (AMA), said right now they don’t have a regional or municipal breakdown for their calls, but of the 45,000 that have come in, some 65 per cent are battery related.
“That is six-and-a-half times more than what we normally expect,” Klassen said of the volume of calls they are receiving.
Roadrunners Towing in St. Albert, the AMA contractor for St. Albert and Morinville, said as of Friday afternoon they have 200 call for service in their queue and have no idea how many they have received since Sunday.
Sheena Schlachter, manager of towing, said they are quoting people 72-hour wait times before they will be able to get service. Most of the calls are for battery boosts and their staff is working around the clock to help keep people safe and warm during the cold snap.
Schlachter said thankfully most calls are coming from people who are just having trouble starting their cars, and there have been very few calls where people are stranded in emergency situations. In those cases, Schlachter said they will send someone to pick the stranded customer up to make sure they are safe and return to deal with the vehicle when they have more time.
“Most of it is just everyone at home trying to go to work and their vehicles won't start in that cold,” Schlachter said.
Compared to years past, this cold snap has kept them more busy than usual.
“It definitely is a lot (of calls). It has been a lot busier this year in this little snap here that we've had. My guys have been going around the clock since Sunday and we just can’t seem to catch up for some reason,” Schlachter said.
As of Thursday AMA is triaging the situation, quoting people 24 to 48 hours for their towing wait list, but anyone who is in an emergency situation will get treated quickly.
AMA will tackle all of their emergency tows, which would include people stuck on Ray Gibbon Drive or other main roads, and then move on to the wait list for people who are in safe and warm conditions, like those who need a battery boost but are safely waiting at home.
Klassen said it is hard to estimate the exact time for any given situation as they will take the circumstances into consideration.
“In an emergency, we're usually responding to people quite quickly. It's hard to say because it’s situation based, but dispatch was telling me this morning that if someone is stuck in a tough spot we are within two hours and usually quite under that (time) as well,” Klassen said.
For things like light boosting and lockouts, the same triage procedure is in place: AMA will be responding to the emergency situations first.
Klassen said it is rare for a cold snap to blanket the entire province rather than just one region at the time, which is making it even harder for the organization to respond to calls.
Typically if one area is having frigid temperatures, they will bring in resources from other areas of the province to help. But with the entire province suffering from the arctic blast AMA services across Alberta have been working overtime to help keep residents safe and warm.
“We can't really have people coming in to help because everybody is busy in their own areas,” Klassen said.
“All of our employees have been working overtime and doing a great job at that. All of our contracted service providers have been working around the clock.
Klassen said the best thing for people to do when the cold snap hits is to plug in their vehicles. If residents find their vehicle dead in the morning, Klassen suggests plugging it in while they wait for a boost.
The spokesperson also said to keep an emergency kit in the car during the winter, along with additional warm clothing.
“Nobody expects to break down. People go from their warm house into their warm car to their warm office and they don't think about dressing for the weather.”
