An N.W.T. coroner’s report into the death of a two-year-old girl is calling for automated weather observations at the territory’s airports, after her medevac was delayed almost five hours due to the closure of a Community Aerodrome Radio Station (CARS).

There was no CARS operator on duty in Fort Liard on Dec. 1, 2011, when Delaina Klondike became severely ill with meningitis.

N.W.T. chief coroner Cathy Menard is calling for automated weather observations at the territory’s airports after a two-year-old child from Fort Liard died after her medevac was delayed five hours due to closure of a Community Aerodrome Radio Station (CARS). (CBC)

The report says her mother noticed she was ill with a fever on the afternoon of Nov. 30. By 9 p.m. her condition had deteriorated and her parents took her to the health centre where she began having seizures. A medevac was called at 12:25 a.m.

According to the report, Air Tindi’s medevac dispatch was unable to get a weather report for Fort Liard due to the CARS closure. A Notice to Airmen had been posted stating Fort Liard’s CARS was closed until Dec. 2.

They obtained verbal weather observations from community members who said the sky was overcast, no stars were visible and winds were gusty. The pilot decided it was unsafe to fly to Fort Liard until they could get an altimeter reading. A current airport altimeter reading is necessary to land safely in poor visibility conditions.

RCMP dispatch in Yellowknife contacted an officer in Fort Liard who went to an air company base and knocked on the door, waking up a pilot who was overnighting in the community. The pilot was able to give an altimeter reading to Air Tindi.

The medevac flight left Yellowknife for Fort Liard at about 5:10 a.m. and arrived back in the city at 8:40 a.m. with the young girl. Despite CPR efforts, the child was pronounced dead half an hour after arriving in Yellowknife. An autopsy determined she died from sepsis from bacterial meningitis.

Father says better system needed

After watching his daughter's condition deteriorate during the long wait, then desperately administering CPR to try to keep her alive during the flight, Darren Klondike had to phone his wife to tell her their daughter had died.

“They should have a better weather system setup, someone there at least; someone to get a hold of…like this is bullshit,” Klondike said.

Chief coroner Cathy Menard is calling on the Minister of Transportation, the Government of the N.W.T., Transport Canada and NAV Canada to jointly fund and install automated systems to supplement weather observation capabilities.