Humboldt and District Ambulance is giving a shout out to Reg Puetz, a farmer who helped clear a path for paramedics on Monday afternoon.

An ambulance was responding to an emergency call at a farm north of Humboldt on a snowed-in grid road, supervisor Derek Dagenais told Bolt FM. It was the third time that day that the fire department had sent two of its four-wheel drive vehicles to clear a path for them.

As the emergency vehicles made it into the yard a nearby farmer, Puetz, saw them and took the initiative to clear a spot for them to turn around, and then cleared the road back toward Humboldt.

"Getting out was much easier than getting in," Dagenais said.

Humboldt and District Ambulance posted a picture of the event to their Facebook page, saying: "The nice thing about Saskatchewan, everyone is willing to help in an emergency. Thanks to Reg Puetz who cleared a path to ensure our paramedics made it out of a snowy situation." 

The snow has been a concern over the past 24 hours, posing challenges to accessing patients and getting them out of their houses, Dagenais said. They've had to shovel driveways, and even had the fire department shovel a path for them at a Humbolt home.

"It does affect our time frames. We want to be expeditious in these cases to try and move patients to the hospital as quickly as possible."

Two of the seven emergency calls from midnight to 1 p.m. Monday were directly related to snow - one was a medical call from a person who had been shoveling, and the other was due to a vehicle crash, he said.