HUMBOLDT — Mike Kwasnica, Humboldt’s fire chief, advised the community to drive cautiously outside of town and keep an eye on anything that looks unusual after an increase of wildlife collisions on the surrounding roads.
While the Humboldt Fire Department typically responds to one or two wildlife collisions per year, during December the department responded to three in one month.
In addition to the three calls that crews responded to, Kwasnica said there were a few that were reported but crews weren’t needed to respond.
“One of our biggest calls within last month is the number of wildlife collisions we’ve had,” Kwasnica said. “We’ve had a number of moose versus vehicles, which are the ones very concerning because of their size and their height.”
He said the department is aware of some specific “frequent hotspots” where moose may appear, including Burr, where the majority of collisions took place.
“Any direction you go out of Humboldt, we’ve been seeing a large number of moose that are very close to the highways. Even the grid roads you’ll get them coming out of the bushes on the sides of the roads.”
Kwasnica said while there were minor injuries reported to crews in some of the incidents, the majority of damage was to the vehicle and wildlife.
“The majority of them, I believe, were a write-off,” he said. “We did have one the other day that actually broke the windshield.”
While the department doesn’t know the specific cause of the increase, Kwasnica is advising residents to keep an eye on their surroundings, especially at night, which is when the majority of the collisions happen.
“Drive a little more cautiously and keep your eye out for anything that looks unusual.”
