The main goal for any emergency vehicle is to arrive at their location as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, some obstacles get in the way and can prevent the EMS, Fire department, or RCMP from getting to their location much faster. Among those obstacles are trains passing through the local area and blocking the emergency vehicles from their desired location.

"If somebody is in need of emergency services, we want to get there in a timely manner and same with EMS and RCMP," said Mike Kwasnica, Humboldt fire chief.

Thankfully there is a way to get by a train much quicker as an emergency vehicle. About 5 or 6 years ago the Humboldt Fire Department and EMS both were given access to the radio channel of the train engineers passing through Humboldt and surrounding area.

"We can have a conversation with the engineer; if they are moving they'll just keep going, and if they are stopped they will tell us which crossing is free, or they can separate the cars and let us pass as a last resort," said Kwasnica.

Only the EMS and Fire Department have access to the channel while the Humboldt RCMP is lone emergency service without the channel.

"It's just a very important part of what we do in a community like ours that is split by train tracks."