Sask. volunteers help pump out flooded Calgary homes

When disaster struck and the Bow River flooded in Calgary, a Saskatchewan family with a vacuum truck rushed to help.

On Saturday, Trent Field, his brother Jason, and his 15-year-old nephew, Cody, took an industrial hydrovac truck from Saskatoon to Calgary.

Since then, they've been working almost non-stop, driving through flooded sections of the city and pumping out flooded basements for free — and earning the eternal gratitude of numerous Calgarians.

"He came by my site today and emptied the basement in 20 minutes," Allan Parker wrote on Facebook after Jason and Trent came by. "One of our everyday heroes."

Trent Field, who owns Boreal Vac & Pressure Services in Prince Albert, Sask., said he's seen a lot of basements flooded by more than two metres of water.

Most of these flood victims have no insurance and desperately need help, he said.

Hug given, tears shed

They've been getting some emotional reactions when they knock on doors and offer their services for no charge, he said.

"At first people were a little surprised," he said. "We get a lot of hugs, a lot of tears shed."

Since Saturday, they've been averaging only a few hours of sleep a night. "We're going to try carrying on for a couple of more days," he said.

Asked by CBC Radio's Blue Sky host Garth Materie why he's doing it, Field said it's as simple as he wanted to help and he had a vacuum truck.

"It's what I do," he said.

Meanwhile, their story has also made a splash on social media, having been shared more than 40,000 times on Facebook.