Woman suffers minor burns in Clarendon house fire: A Clarendon woman suffered minor burns to her face as she fled her burning house Jan. 19.

Doris Emmerson was sitting at her kitchen table of her Wesley Road home near Charteris when she heard a crackling noise in the adjacent television room. When she went to investigate, flames were shooting up the back of her couch.

Emmerson ran out the door to her son’s house just 10 feet away and her daughter-in-law called 911. Everything happened so fast, Emmerson says she doesn’t remember when she suffered burns to her forehead, nose and chin.

One of the first Shawville-Clarendon firefighters on the scene, Wayne Bohart tried to get the car keys just inside the door but when he opened the door, all he saw was red.

With the home already engulfed, firefighters could only stop it from spreading to nearby buildings, including Emmerson’s son’s house.

No-snow woes for snowmobilers: For the second consecutive year, area snowmobilers are immobilized by a lack of snow.

Last year, clubs didn’t start grooming trails until the second week of January, then were hit with a mild spell and rain. This year, there is no snow to groom and for the past few days, it has been too cold to rain or snow for that matter.

“It hurts big time,” says Adam McDonald, owner of the Petro Canada (Bean’s) service station and Ski-Doo dealership in Shawville.

Up in Fort Coulonge, Larry Gagnon, president of the Pingouin Snowmobile Club which covers the upper Pontiac, says they are desperate for snow.

“I’ve got my toes crossed and they’re crooked,” Gagnon joked.