With a number of thefts happening throughout the area, one area resident was able to have their vehicle recovered.
    It appears that there has been a flood of stolen vehicles in the province and the first place people often learn about it is on social media. On August 11, Christa Dutchik posted a photo of her 2006 Duramax truck taken from a yard in the Carbon area.
    Last week she learned that it had been found in Calgary.
    “Calgary Police recovered it on September 1 and we went to pick it up on Saturday,” she tells The Mail. “We still don’t know who had it, but we know the gentleman who came into the farm where it was parked at. He went to jail three weeks ago so we figured we would never see our truck again.”
    It appears the person who had the truck was using it as a personal vehicle and may have been using it to commit more property crimes she explains.
    She learned the police located the truck in a driveway at a Calgary residence. They ran the plate and towed it to impound. There they were able to determine it was her truck.
    While she is not sure if her social media posting about her missing truck contributed to the recovery or led to tips, it certainly helped deliver the message of her missing vehicle.
    “I had over 400 shares. I don’t know the reason the police went to his residence,” she said.
    She is thankful to those who showed support by helping spread the word.
    “People were amazing, I don’t even have that many friends on Facebook, and so I was quite grateful. With Facebook there is a lot of negative things said about it, but there are a lot of positives.”
    While the truck was recovered, it was not without some damages including scratches and dents and a broken grill. They also painted the rims to possibly help disguise the vehicle.
    For her, the theft was an eye-opener.
    “Now that it has happened to us, I realize how bad it is out there right now, how much this has been happening. It seems like everyone under the sun has had something stolen from them, whether it be a vehicle or something from their yard it’s rampant,” she said.

    This weekend Drumheller has the rare opportunity to see some of Canada’s finest firemen and women take on the toughest two minutes in sports.
    The Drumheller Fire Department is hosting a regional     FireFit Championship event on September 9-11 in the shadow of the World’s Largest Dinosaur. Organizer Deputy Chief Duane Bolin says registrations are picking up.
    “It was a really slow start, but in the last 6-8 days teams are really starting to sign up,” said Bolin.
    There is a chance that spectators will get to see some of the best competitors from across the country because the next week, the national championship is being held at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. Bolin says they are seeing competitors from as far east as Halifax to Kamloops to the west, and from Fort McMurray in the north.
    “We could get some last minute registrations from down east, we’ll see,” said Bolin.
    The local department is also very active and has 10 individual racers taking part. He would like to see participation from surrounding departments.
    “I always say come out and do the team relay and see what it is like. If you like the relay, next time try the individual course,” said Bolin.
    Before the real athletes take to the course, Drumheller has the chance to see some average Joes take on the course.
    On Friday evening, the weekend kicks off with the corporate challenge. This is a chance for locals to form a relay team and compete head to head on the official course.  The corporate challenge participants have the luxury of not wearing the heavy turnout gear or Scott Air Pack.     
    Bolin expects there will be 12 teams taking on the course, representing a number of local community members, organizations and businesses.
    The competition starts at 5:30 p.m. and each team will get two runs, with the top teams competing for the prize.
    This is a great taste of competition, but the real athletes come out on Saturday.
    Opening Ceremonies are at 10:45 a.m., and the first individual competitors hit the course at 11 a.m.  While they call it the toughest two minutes in sports, the top competitors’ times are below 1:30.
    The team events will be held Sunday. There is a relay event with 3-5 competitors taking on the course, as well as the 2-man X3 relay.
    “The X3 Relay is where you do the whole course with two people and you do an oxygen bottle swap on your Scott Air Pack in the middle of it,” explains Bolin.
    An Awards Banquet for the competitors takes place at the Cretaceous Conference Room on Saturday night.